Agenda item

We considered the independent review by Anne Phillimore, FCIPD, HR Consultant with a view to making recommendations on the salary structures for Strategic Leadership Team as they are not comparable with other councils in the Gwent area / Borders. 

At the previous meeting the Committee received the summary of recommendations and a PowerPoint presentation from Anne Phillimore (appended to the minutes).

Anne Phillimore is an experienced public sector HR Consultant.  She has undertaken similar reviews in other Welsh Local Authorities and has provided a comprehensive analysis and benchmarking of our remuneration levels against other local authorities. The scope of the independent review is concerned with the remuneration levels for strategic leadership roles including the Chief Executive.  This includes eight roles which are:

• Chief Executive.
• Deputy Chief Executive/Chief Officer, Resources (& s.151 Officer).
• Chief Officer, Children and Young People.
• Chief Officer, Social Care & Health.
• Chief Officer, People, Performance & Partnerships.
• Chief Officer, Law & Governance.
• Chief Operating Officer, Customer, Culture & Wellbeing.
• Chief Officer, Communities & Place.

The recommendations outlined in the independent review for the senior officers are as follows:

Chief Executive Officer – Tier 1

Anne Phillimore has recommended that pay is revised in line with Option 2 because it moves the Chief Executive salary into the lower part of the median quartile, circa £138,000-£148,000. £138,000 would take the salary just into the median quartile and would still be at the lower end of Welsh Council tier 1 salaries but would align more closely with population relativities. This pay range would also have the benefit of substantially reducing the number of organisations paying tier 2 and tier 3 staff above this rate and should increase the number of candidates available for this role in the fullness of time. This scale of increase, although substantial, would both keep Monmouthshire in line with similar organisations and provide some headroom in respect of salary levels at tier 2 and 3.

Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Officer, Resources (s.151 officer) -Tier 2

Anne Phillimore has recommended that pay is revised in line with Option 2 because it moves the tier 2 salary into the lower part if the median quartile circa £112,000-£125,000. This would take the salary just into the median quartile though would still be toward the lower end of Welsh Councils. This scale of increase – although not insubstantial, would both keep Monmouthshire in line with similar organisations and provide some headroom in respect of salary levels at tier 2 and 3. To ensure the acceptability of this increase, posts within the scale could be spot salaries which would control the pay bill; or there could be a scale of two or three points with a gateway beyond which progression would be linked to additional responsibilities – again this would provide some pay bill control.

Chief Officer Children and Young People, Chief Officer Community and Place, Chief Officer Social Care and Health, Chief Officer Law and Governance (Monitoring Officer and Head of Democracy) – Tier 3

Anne Phillimore has recommended that pay is revised in line with Option 2 because the move the tier 3 salary into the lower part if the median quartile circa £103,000 -113,000. This would take the salary into the median quartile and would then benchmark up to the mid-point of the salary scale. This level of increase – although substantial, would both keep Monmouthshire in line with similar organisations and provide some headroom in respect of salary levels at tier 4. To ensure the acceptability of this increase, posts within the scale could be spot salaries which would control the pay bill; or there could be a scale of two or three points with a gateway beyond which progression would be linked to additional responsibilities – again this would provide some pay bill control

Chief Officer People, Performance and Partnership and Chief Officer Customer, Culture and Well Being – Tier 4

Anne Phillimore has recommended that pay is revised in line with Option 2 because it increases the tier 4 salary scale into the lower part if the median quartile circa £85,000-£93,000. This would take the salary into the median quartile which would then benchmark up to the mid-point. This scale of increase would both keep Monmouthshire in line with similar organisations and provide scope for a run through salary structure at this level and tier 5 and below. To ensure the acceptability of this increase, posts within the scale. To ensure the acceptability of this increase, posts within the scale could be spot salaries which would control the pay bill; or there could be a scale of two or three points with a gateway beyond which progression would be linked to additional responsibilities – again this would provide some pay bill control.

The result of accepting these recommendations would be an increase in pay from the 1^st April 2025.  After which they increase until the end of 2028/29 and then become a spot salary.

Having considered the independent review, the following points were noted:

·         The independent review is objective and has been helpful in aiding the Remuneration Committee with regard to establishing a recommendation to Full Council in respect of Senior Leadership Pay.

·         The recommendations outlined in the independent review, namely Option 2, were appropriate for Monmouthshire County Council as they would aid in the retention of existing senior leadership staff, as well as aid in future recruitment.

·         The independent review for Senior Leadership Pay has been written in accordance with Monmouthshire County Council’s Pay Policy.

We recommended that Full Council:

(i)            approves the recommendation in the independent review that the Strategic Leadership Team are paid in accordance with Option 2 and that the increase is spread over two years.

(ii)          recommends that a job evaluation scheme is put in place for all Chief Officer grades and that the pay structures are reviewed.