To consider the title and remuneration of the Head of Paid Service and as well the appointment of a permanent Section 151 officer.
Minutes:
RESOLVED to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for this item of business under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that:
1. It involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act; and
2. the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.
Senior management scoping and benchmarking
Those officers for whom the senior management scoping and benchmarking was directly relevant to their terms of employment left the meeting (the Interim Strategic Head of Corporate Resources, the Head of Finance & Assets, the Head of Legal & Governance, and the Director of Place) having previously declared their interest in this aspect of the item.
The Employment Committee received and considered an update on the senior management scoping and benchmarking from the Head of Paid Service. It was explained that an external benchmarking had been undertaken of senior management roles to achieve transparency following the adoption of a new management structure and redistribution of responsibilities in November 2021. The context for this work was a high level of movement amongst the senior management of authorities in London and a desire for Reigate and Banstead to attract and retain a high quality of senior managers, especially to statutory roles.
Committee Members questioned the Head of Paid Service on the details of the senior management scoping and benchmarking exercise and the resulting changes to senior management roles. It was noted by the Committee that those changes were for approval by the Head of Paid Service under delegated decision-making authority.
Appointment of permanent Chief Finance Officer and Section 151 Officer
The Head of Paid Service reminded the Employment Committee of the previous unsuccessful attempts to appoint a Section 151 Officer in 2019 since when the post had been filled by Pat Main in an interim capacity. It was proposed that the Employment Committee recommend to Council that Pat Main take on the role in a permanent capacity. All Members of the Committee endorsed the proposal, individually expressing their appreciation for the qualities Pat Main had brought to the role of Section 151 Officer.
Head of Paid Service terms and conditions
The Head of Paid Service left the meeting having already declared an interest in this aspect of the item.
The Interim Strategic Head of Corporate Resources and the Head of Legal & Governance returned to the meeting.
The Employment Committee received and considered the recommended changes to the terms and conditions of the Head of Paid Service. The Head of Organisational Development and Interim Strategic Head of Corporate Resources explained that the Head of Paid Service post had been subject to the same scoping and benchmarking exercise as other senior management posts. As a result, it was proposed that the Employment Committee recommend to Council that:
· the job title of the Head of Paid Service be changed to Managing Director. This was to enable the role to be clearly differentiated from those of other directors and to provide clarity on overall leadership and responsibility. It was noted that ‘Head of Paid Service’ was not clearly understood as a job title by Members and officers.
· the salary of the Head of Paid Service be changed to reflect the scope and breath of the revised role of Managing Director after concluding an external benchmarking and grading exercise of other comparable local authorities.
The Head of Organisational Development and Interim Strategic Head of Corporate Resources were questioned by the Employment Committee on how the scoping and benchmarking exercise was conducted in relation to the Head of Paid Service role including the calculation of the recommended salary.
The Chair returned the meeting to public session.
RESOLVED to:
· Note the approach and outcome of the scoping and benchmarking exercise for the six senior management roles within the newly approvedstructure.
· Note the changes to the relevant senior management roles as approved by the Head of Paid Service under delegated decision-making authority.
· To recommend to Full Council:
o To adopt the changes to the Head of Paid Service terms and conditions; and
o That Pat Main be appointed to the Section 151 statutory role on a permanent basis.