Issue - meetings

The Assembly received a report on the draft Pay Policy Statement for the Council for 2013/14, introduced by the Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Human Resources

In accordance with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 all local authorities are obliged to publish an annual statement of its pay policy, covering areas such as the level and elements of remuneration for each chief officer and the relationship between the remuneration of chief officers, other officers and its “lowest paid employees”. 

The Cabinet Member referred to the recent Cabinet decision that no permanent member of the Council’s staff or agency worker should be paid less than £9 per hour (excluding those on apprenticeship schemes) in support of the Council’s objective of raising average household incomes. In accordance with the “Fairness” provisions of the Policy taking into account both the minimum wage and the fact that the Chief Executive’s salary is being shared with Thurrock means that the ratio between the highest and lowest paid employees in the Council has been reduced from 1:10 to 1:8.  

Assembly AGREED to approve the Pay Policy Statement for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for 2013/14 as attached at Appendix A to the report.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Human Resources presented the draft Pay Policy Statement for the Council for 2013/14, setting out the Council’s key statements of its pay policy as required under the Localism Act 2011.

As well as covering areas such as the level and elements of remuneration for each chief officer, the policy also dealt with the subject of “fairness”, which examined the relationship between the remuneration of chief officers and the lowest paid employees within the Council.  Linked to that issue, the Cabinet Member reported on a proposal for the Council to set a minimum pay rate equivalent to £9 per hour for all Council employees (excluding those on apprenticeship schemes) and agency staff working on Council assignments. 

The Cabinet Member explained that, as a major employer within the Borough, the measure would support the Council’s ambition to raise average household incomes and represented an important statement in terms of pay fairness.  The new minimum rate would exceed the London Living Wage level, set at £8.55 per hour from 1 November 2012, and would cost the Council approximately £314,000 to implement but the Cabinet Member suggested that the wider economic and social benefits associated with increasing rates at the bottom of the Council’s pay scales was believed to outweigh the cost.

Cabinet agreed:

  (i)  That all permanent Council staff and agency staff working on Council assignments be paid the equivalent of at least £9 per hour with effect from 1 January 2013; and

  (ii)  To recommend the Assembly to approve the Pay Policy Statement for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for 2013/14, for publication with effect from 1 April 2013, as attached at Appendix A to the report.