Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for Absence were made by Councillors Melissa Fisher, Kimberley Whitehead and Danny Cassidy.

Substitutions were made for Councillor Fisher by Councillor Vanessa Alexander and Councillor Whitehead by Councillor Clare Pritchard.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, noted that in accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), he was satisfied that the following Agenda items should be submitted as urgent business by reason of special circumstances the details of which were as follows:

Items 1, 2 and 5 are procedural items which are necessary to support the overall conduct of the meeting, which contains substantive items which are deemed as urgent.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Management Review Committee held on 9th of April 2024 were submitted for approval as a correct record.

Recommended – That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.

The Minutes of the last meeting of Management Review Committee held on the 9^th of April 2024 were submitted for approval as a correct record. 

Resolved - That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record

The report sets out the proposal options for reviewing employee Car Lease and Car Allowances as part of the budget growth proposals for 2026/2027.

Recommended – That the committee note the report and approve the following recommendations:

1.     That the committee agree to amend the employee terms and conditions to remove the option to provide future car loans to employees.

2.      That the committee agree to increase the car lease allowances and select their preferred option from the three proposals contained in section 4 of this report.

3.     That if the committee agree to increase the car lease allowances pursuant to recommendation 2, the car lease allowances are then increased annually in line with any agreed pay awards.

In accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the Leader of the Council, Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, noted that he was satisfied that the following Agenda item should be submitted as urgent business by reason of special circumstances the details of which were as follows:

Item 3 - Car Allowance Review, was urgent, given that the Council included a growth item in its 2026/2027 revenue budget of £70,000 to address the issue that the relevant rates have not been reviewed or increased for 20 years. 

Any delay to updating the allowance may have staffing implications, since without inflationary increases these benefits become less appealing when recruiting and retaining staff in Hyndburn.

The report asked the committee to review the current employee Car Lease and Car Allowance arrangements as part of the budget growth proposals for 2026/2027.

The report recommended that employees terms and conditions be amended to remove the option of car loans.

That the committee select 1 of the 3 proposals provided on pages 7 to 8 of the agenda. Items 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3.

Including an annual increase in the car lease allowance in line with agreed pay awards.

Officers noted the struggle to retain and recruit staff into certain posts and advised that this will likely get worse as we get closer to local government reorganisation.

The review of the car leasing scheme should improve the staff offer when advertising for hard to fill posts.

Resolved – Members voted to;

·         Agree to amend employees’ terms and conditions to remove the option of car loans.

·         Voted to implement Proposal 3 at 7.3 on the agenda.

·         Agreed to increase the car lease allowance annually in line with agreed pay awards.

The purpose of the report is to agree a proposed updated Employer Pension Discretions Policy Statement.

And to agree a change to the redundancy multiplier as part of the Council’s wish to move towards pay equalisation pre-Local Government Review.

Recommended - That Management Review Committee approves the Policy Statement.

In accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the Leader of the Council, Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, noted that he was satisfied that the following Agenda item should be submitted as urgent business by reason of special circumstances the details of which were as follows:

Item 4 - Review of Employer Pension Discretions Policy, was urgent, as this will give effect to a new Employer Pension Discretions Policy Statement, which includes a change to the redundancy multiplier in support of the Council’s wish to move towards pay equalisation prior to Local Government Reorganisation.  Any delay will increase the levels of uncertainty for staff, potentially leading to recruitment and retention difficulties.

The report asked members to agree the updated Employer Pension Discretions Policy Statement and agree a change to the redundancy multiplier as part of the Council’s wish to move towards pay equalisation pre-Local Government Review.

Hyndburn does not currently apply any multiplier to its redundancy pay figure.

The report asked members to agree to a multiplier of 2.2 to bring Hyndburn’s employees redundancy policy into line with other local councils. The use of this multiplier would be limited, to take the final amount of redundancy pay no higher than a limit of £70k.

The proposed changes to the Policy Statement are highlighted on pages 12 and 13 of the agenda.

Resolved – Members agreed to the amendments proposed in the Policy Statement.

Recommended – That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act  1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during the following items, when it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, or the nature of the proceedings, that there would otherwise be disclosure of exempt information within paragraphs at Schedule 12A of the act, specified at the items.

Resolved - That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act  1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during the following items, when it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, or the nature of the proceedings, that there would otherwise be disclosure of exempt information within paragraphs at Schedule 12A of the act, specified at the items.

Exempt information by virtue of Paragraph 1 – Information relating to any individual.

Report Attached.

In accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the Leader of the Council, Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, noted that he was satisfied that the following Agenda item should be submitted as urgent business by reason of special circumstances the details of which were as follows:

Item 6 - Pay and Grading, was urgent, as the decision will give effect to proposals arising from specialist advice obtained following a job evaluation of a particular post.  Given that the postholder has been undertaking additional responsibilities for some time, any delay to the decision might be viewed as inequitable and would create uncertainty for the postholder.

Details of the consideration of this matter are recorded in a confidential schedule to these minutes.

Resolved – The committee voted to approve the resolution as set out in the confidential schedule to these minutes with 1 amendment which has been noted.