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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Siambr Hywel Dda, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, LL55 1SH

Contact: Lowri Haf Evans  01286 679878

Items
No. Item

1.

ELECT CHAIR

To elect a Chairman for 2018/19

Minutes:

RESOLVED to elect Councillor W. Gareth Roberts as Chair for the year 2018/19.

 

 

2.

ELECT VICE CHAIR

To elect a Vice Chair  for 2018/19

Minutes:

RESOLVED not to elect a Vice-chair for the period 2018/2019.

3.

APOLOGIES

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors R Medwyn Hughes, Eryl Jones-Williams, Mair Rowlands, Dyfrig Siencyn and Gethin Glyn Williams

 

4.

DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST

To receive any declaration of personal interest

Minutes:

The following members declared a personal interest for the reasons noted:

 

Dilwyn Williams (Chief Executive) and Geraint Owen (Head of Corporate Support Department), in item 5 on the agenda as they were principal officers and, therefore, subject to the Pay Policy - the first due to the section regarding the Chief Executive's pay and the second due to the section regarding the pay of principal officers.  Should there be any discussion on that matter, both would withdraw from the meeting. 

 

5.

URGENT ITEMS

To note any items that is a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration.

Minutes:

None to note

 

6.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 81 KB

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 14th February 2018 be signed as a true record

Minutes:

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee, held on 14.02.18 as a true record.

 

7.

ANNUAL REVIEW - COUNCIL'S PAY POLICY pdf icon PDF 70 KB

To submit the report of the Chief Executive

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report was presented and it was noted that there was a statutory duty for the Chief Officers Appointment Committee to submit their recommendations following the review of the pay policy to the Full Council annually. It was highlighted that there were no modifications to the policy this year, however, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution the policy needed to be considered.

 

Although there were no modifications to the policy attention was drawn to some matters: It was noted, in accordance with the National Pay Agreement (two year contract period) that the Council's minimum wage would increase from £8.62 to £9.18 per hour by April 2019.  It was added that only a very small amount of jobs fell within the lowest point with the vast majority were on £9.55 or higher.  For example, it was reported that carers were employed on the scale of £9.36- £9.55 per hour and could reach £9.55 per hour following a year's employment. Members were reminded that £9.00 per hour was the minimum pay recognised as a Living Wage by the voluntary body, the Living Wage Foundation, however, with the previous local resolution to delete the lower two points from the national pay structure, £9.18 per hour would be the minimum Gwynedd Council wage from the 1st of April 2019. It was added that consequently, this would mean that for the first time Gwynedd Council would pay a wage above the Living Wage of £9.00 per hour and this was a matter that the Council could be proud of. 

 

Attention was drawn to other issues that had been updated in the policy namely matters agreed during the year as part of the collective agreement with trade unions.  Consequently, it was noted that working conditions had been modernised and harmonised. 

 

The Head of Corporate Support Department was thanked for the presentation.

 

In response to a comment regarding the shortage of Carers and the suggestion that the wage should be increased to £10.00 per hour in order to give the post more status, it was reported that wage scales across the Council would need to be harmonised to implement this in order to ensure fairness and equal pay.  Members were reminded that the Council had completed the Local Pay Review in 2008 and this set a strong foundation to ensure equal pay for work of equal value for all the workforce and if wages were to be increased for carers then it would be necessary to give consideration to everyone else with reciprocal responsibilities.  The significant investment made in wages by the Council was highlighted by reporting that the total cost of wage increases in 2018/19 was £4.1m with an equivalent sum again earmarked for April 2019 increases.  It was added that there was a general increase of 2% on 2019/2020 wages with staff under point 19 receiving increases of up to 5.5%.

 

It was noted that a piece of work to gather evidence was being undertaken by the Adults Service to try and understand the nature  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.