Richmond Council Pay Statement

This is the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Pay Policy Statement for the financial year 2013 - 2014 and was subject to approval by Resolution of the Full Council on 23 February 2013.

Introduction

We have previously made a commitment to deliver good services that represent value for money by spending every penny of tax payers' money as carefully as if it were our own.

In doing so we have already cut senior councillors' pay and will ruthlessly drive out inefficiency anywhere we find it. We are publishing all items of Council spending over £500 online so you, the public, can see where your money goes and help us ensure it is not wasted.

This Annual Pay Statement represents our further commitment to transparency with regard to the policies and procedures used for all our staff. The Statement presents, in one place, the policies and procedures governing the pay and conditions for Chief Officers and the relationship between the highest and lowest paid in the Authority.

The Pay Statement has been written and presented to develop and complement information already published on our website, giving details of senior job roles and the actual pay received by senior officers earning over £58,200.

Councillor Tony Arbour,
Chairman of the Remuneration Committee

Remuneration of Chief Officers

Chief Officer base pay, and general terms and conditions

The Chief Officer Pay Scheme, attached as Appendix 1, defines the policy and procedures governing the setting of base pay, discretionary bonuses and pay progression for all Chief Officers. The Scheme was first agreed by resolution in 2007 and was subsequently agreed for continued use in February 2012.

Pay progression for all Chief Officers is not automatic; it is conditional on performance measured against objectives set and assessed in line with the standard Council Appraisal Scheme.

Chief Officers are appointed to a standard contract attached as Appendix 2. Annual pay reviews and any additional terms and conditions are defined and agreed by the Joint National Council for Chief Officers.

Further information in relation to the exact pay and expenses of all Chief Officers is displayed and regularly updated on our website (associated pages).

A standard clause in all Chief Officer contracts states:

‘This is an all inclusive salary range and you will receive no extra payments in respect of any related additional duties including Returning Officer, Acting Returning Officer, Registration Officer, Proper Officer for specified functions, Adviser/Secretary roles to Committees etc. for London Wide and National Bodies and other extra payments such as lectures and speeches to outside bodies. Fees and payments for any of the above will be paid directly to the Council.’

Chief Officer associated policies and procedures

The Appointments Committee(pdf, 522KB) oversees the recruitment and selection of all Chief Officers in line with the Officer Employment Procedure rules, included in Part 4(pdf, 687KB), section 8 of the Constitution. All proceedings are fully documented on the Council’s website.

When setting the starting salary, which must be one of the increments of the defined grade, the appointed member of the selection panel making the formal offer must consider the quality and value of the person selected for the post. Normally new recruits will commence on the bottom of the grade. It is not automatically assumed that a candidate should be offered a higher rate than their current salary, as candidates will be motivated by a range of factors in wishing to change jobs, including location, market conditions and career choices. The Council’s most Senior HR Adviser will be the appointed member of the panel for this purpose, or will provide advice, as required.

The Local Government Pension Scheme is a nationwide scheme, administered locally, with the majority of the rules contained in regulations made by Parliament after consultation with both employee representatives (Trade Unions) and employer representatives. The rules comply with the relevant provisions of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2004.

There are some areas of the Scheme which require discretionary rules to be defined locally. Discretions required include treatment of redundancy payments under regulation 5 and severance payments under regulation 6 of the Local Government (Early Termination of Employment) (Discretionary Compensation) (England and Wales) Regulations 2006. There is also some discretion relating to the administration of additional membership for pension purposes under regulation 12 and additional pension under regulation 13 of the Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations 2007.

Discretions are reviewed and agreed by Cabinet and the Pension Fund Committee from time to time and published, to be administered consistently for all employees irrespective of grade. The latest agreed discretions, are approved by Cabinet and Pension Fund Committee.

In addition to the above, and in line with good practice guidance supplied by the JNC, Part 3 section 3 of the Constitution details the oversight required in relation to disciplinary and investigatory matters relating to all Chief Officers by the Appeals Committee and the Investigating and Disciplinary Committee.

Remuneration of chief officers returning to a local authority

The Council has no cases where a chief officer previously employed by the authority, leaving with a severance or redundancy package, is now reemployed; equally there are no occurrences where a chief officer is now working under a contract for services.

The Flexible retirement policy is attached as Appendix 4 and is operated in line with agreed discretions.

In the unlikely event that a vacancy or need arose and a previous chief officer or staff member were to be considered suitable either to be re-employed or to be provided with a contract for services, then the following safeguards are in place:

  • The full and proper recruitment and selection processes, as laid out above, will always be applied where the proposal is to re-employ
  • Any arrangements and decisions made will be in full compliance with the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in local Government etc.) (Modification) Order 1999 and any associated amendments.
  • The detailed standards as laid out in the contract standing orders covers appointments of consultants, supplemented by the Code of Practice for the engagement of Consultants.

No current Chief Officers are in receipt of a Local Government Pension or Fire-fighter Pension.

Remuneration of Lower Paid employees

The Authority maintains pay and grading structures based on relevant nationally agreed pay spines and their associated job evaluation processes. In addition a locally determined senior management grade known as the Richmond Management Grade (RMG) is used. Appointments to this grade are subject to evaluation based on supervisory responsibility, financial impact and discretion, need for creativity and innovation and also its contribution to corporate governance.

Appendix 3 provides the current main NJC pay spine and the range of grades used, including the RMG grades.

The Authority monitors the number of non-school based staff and the nature of the roles for those employees whose evaluated grade results in pay based on a spine point below the current London Living Wage (currently £8.30 per hour). Currently spine points 4 to 7 of the National Joint Council Pay spine as applied in Richmond have been set below this rate.

The Council endorsed the Major of London’s London Living Wage policy and has resolved that no member of staff shall be paid on a spinal point lower then the London Living Wage. Therefore in such cases affected staff receive an enhanced rate to bring their hourly earnings up to the London Living Wage and the Authority reaffirms its commitment to this for 2013/14. Additionally, for the 2012/13 financial year when there was no general pay award to local government staff, in line with a £250 up lift for low paid Civil Servants, an additional payment of £250 (pro rata to proportion of full time hours worked) to staff earning less than a full-time equivalent of £21,000 per annum was granted. The Authority implemented this payment in 2012/13 and in 2013/14 it will monitor the situation and reapply the payment if similar circumstances prevail.

The relationship between the remuneration of the Chief Officer and other staff

In line with the Hutton Review of ‘Fair Pay’ the Authority regularly reviews a pay multiple to track the relationship between all officer pay and that of the Chief Executive. The pay multiple used is the difference between the median hourly rate for all employees and the hourly rate for the Chief Executive.

For 31 March 2013 the LBRuT median pay multiple is 6.29.*

*This figure represents the difference between the hourly rate of the highest paid employee and the median hourly rate, for all non-school based employees (Highest hourly rate/median hourly rate).

The Council deems this multiple to be appropriate for the size and diversity of the Authority and that it compares very favourably with the pay multiples for local authorities presented in the Hutton Review which were all at 8 or above. In subsequent years it is committed to review and compare pay multiple measures published by similar organisations, by way of a benchmarking exercise, in order to hold to good practice. The Council will also review the methodology of the production of the pay multiple to ensure good practice.

Appendices