Return to Agenda

ITEM EX12

EXECUTIVE – 18 FEBRUARY 2003

JOB EVALUATION FOR COUNTY COUNCIL EMPLOYEES

Report by Director for Strategy

 

Background

  1. The Job Evaluation Project applies to "Green Book" employees of the Council, i.e. those other than teachers, uniformed firefighters, chief officers and related posts, Soulbury posts. This totals approximately 10,500 employees working in around 1500 different jobs.

  2. The Personnel Sub-Committee instigated the Job Evaluation Project as part of the implementation of the national move towards Single Status employment. This was confirmed by the Best Value review of Personnel services. The introduction of formal job evaluation will address the Council’s identified need for a more rational and transparent grading system which ensures that pay is free of sex bias and so avoids the real risk of successful Equal Pay claims against the Council. The Council decided to use the scheme promoted by the NJC for Local Government Services, (The ‘Green Book’ scheme), as it was specially written for Local Government staff and has the full backing of Unison.

  3. This report updates members of the Executive on the implications of the recommended budget allocation for 2003-4 and the proposed means of implementing the job evaluation scheme within the sums allocated.

    4. Recommended Budget Allocation for Job Evaluation

  4. The recommended budget for 2003-4 includes the sum of £1.5 million for the implementation of job evaluation. This is the sum needed in this financial year to introduce the scheme over 3 calendar years (June 03 to May 06) as outlined in paragraph 9. represents the first of three steps towards funding t The full costs of the scheme which are estimated to amount to an on-going net revenue increase of £5.1m on the pay bill.

  5. The recommended budget also includes an additional sum of £380,000 to bring forward the full implementation of the scheme for Home Support and Social Workers and Care Managers. These groups have been accelerated due to particular recruitment and retention pressures and the need to enhance staffing levels in order to avoid fines from the Health Trusts (currently estimated as £500,000 in 2003-4) which will be imposed where the Home Support Service fails to cover the discharge of patients to their homes.

    6. Proposed Implementation of the Scheme

  6. This recommended budget allocation was based on the following premises which the Executive is now invited to endorse. The Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee considered a report on job evaluation on 10 January 2003 and gave their support to the proposals put to them which are incorporated in following premises.

    7. Date of implementation and Pay Protection

  7. Implementation of the new grading structure will take effect from June 2003. Those employees whose grades have been evaluated as currently relatively too high will receive 3 years’ salary protection in line with the Council’s Pay Protection Agreement and then drop down to the appropriate grade. In some cases the current grades for jobs in this category have clearly already been influenced by market forces. This group is likely to include jobs in IT, accountancy and some posts in Environment and Economy. Research is currently under way to establish the market rates for jobs in these categories and market supplements will be devised and paid in addition to the evaluated grade where appropriate to ensure that the Council continues to recruit and retain staff in these areas. The need to pay supplements of this kind will clearly reduce the potential claw-back when pay protection ends and this has been taken into consideration in the costings used in this report. Indefinite protection will also apply for annual leave and notice periods which are linked to pay grades.

    8. New Grading Structure

  8. A new grading structure will be introduced which will use the existing national and local spinal column points. The majority of grades will consist of 4 consecutive points, allowing for recognition of improved competence following experience and giving some retention incentive while being consistent with Audit Commission recommendations to avoid long grades. At the bottom of the Spinal Column the grades are of 2 or 3 points reflecting the fact that these grades relate to jobs where full competence takes significantly less time to achieve while being as consistent as is practical with the Single Status premise that either grades or single spot salaries should apply to all levels of the workforce.

    9. Phasing the Costs over 3 years

  9. The 2003-4 allocation is based on taking 3 broadly equal steps towards the full payment of the new grades over 3 years. Because the scheme will be introduced in June 2003, the increases will impact on the Council’s budget in 4 financial years. Phasing over 3 years in this way would mean that those employees who will experience a pay increase would reach their evaluated pay level in the same year as pay protection ends for those who will experience a drop in pay levels. The estimated costs of phasing over 3 years are shown at Annex 1.(download as doc. file) This process will take employees to the bottom point of their new grade at the end of 3 years, or to the point on their new grade scale which they would have attained by receiving annual incremental rises during the 3 year phasing period. Phasing will not , of course, apply to those groups mentioned in paragraph 5 above.

    10. Extent of the Scheme

  10. The Scheme will extend to all jobs within the ‘Green Book’ terms and conditions. There was some concern that the Green Book scheme might not produce adequate results to cover Senior Management Grades at the top of the Spine, but current indications are that these jobs can be evaluated successfully by this scheme. The final grading at the top end of the Spine may require further adjustment as the results are finalised. For example, it would be possible to extend the current Spine to go some way to reducing the current large gap between SMR jobs and Chief Officer related posts which resulted from the local review of salaries for the latter.

    11. Funding the Costs for School-Based Employees

  11. Almost £2m of the total costs of implementation relate to school-based employees. Funds to cover the cost of grading changes in schools will be passed into school budgets through the formula as required. Where individual schools have particular budget issues these will be addressed as far as is permitted by the regulations. There will be no attempt to give less funding to schools which are already paying their staff higher rates, but there may be problems in fully funding the increase where schools employ more staff than the formula allows for.

    PPotential Associated Savings

  12. Improved grades in some major areas should result in better recruitment and retention. Possible savings in associated advertising and recruitment budgets, overtime working and agency worker costs will be identified where possible and tracked and used to offset the costs of job evaluation over the period of implementation.

    13. Negotiations with Unison

  13. Job evaluation is a joint exercise with Unison. Implementation of the Scheme relies on reaching a local agreement with Unison which will allow contracts of employment to be altered. Negotiations are still continuing on this agreement and Unison plan to hold a ballot of their membership in March. Any resolutions of the Executive on the implementation of the scheme are, therefore, subject to further negotiations and agreement with Unison.

    14. Next Steps

  14. Discussions on the application of the scheme in schools are currently taking place with some secondary headteachers and it is hoped that these will be satisfactorily concluded by the end of February 2003. It is anticipated that, subject to a positive Unison ballot result, a draft local agreement will be reached in April 2003. A further report will then come to the Executive to ratify the agreement. Notification of new grades will then take place in May 2003. The new grading structure will then be implemented, subject to phasing and pay protection where appropriate, on 1 June 2003.

    15. RECOMMENDATION

  15. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to endorse the premises set down in paragraphs6 7 to 12 of the report for the purpose of consultation with Unison.

STEPHEN CAPALDI
Director for Strategy

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Sue Corrigan – Head of County Personnel (01865 810280)

February 2003

Return to TOP