Fylde Council is committed to paying all employees appropriately and fairly through the implementation of recognised and approved job evaluation schemes that have been tested to ensure they are free of any bias. The pay scales for employees at all levels are in the public domain and the Council complies with the requirement to publish data on senior salaries and its entire pay scale in the interests of transparency.
In determining the pay and remuneration of all employees, the Council complies with all relevant employment legislation including the Equality Act 2010; Part-Time Employment (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000; and where relevant, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Earnings) Regulations.
All Council policies that relate to employment benefits are universally applied unless there is a specific contractual or business reason why they should be limited to a certain group of employees.
All employee basic pay is determined through pay and grading evaluation schemes with the GLPC scheme for posts up to Chief Officer and the Hay scheme for Chief Officer posts. Both schemes have been tested to ensure that they are free from gender bias and the use of these schemes has been agreed with the relevant recognised trade unions.
Pay and grading evaluation panels consist of trained employee representatives to evaluate the job description and person specification for each post which produces a score that equates to a pay grade. Equality is ensured by evaluating the post and not the person.
The Council has adopted a policy to pay the Real Living Wage. The Real Living Wage supplement is applied for Council employees whose total hourly rate is currently less than the National Real Living Wage.
The Council adheres to the National Joint Committee (NJC) pay bargaining arrangements and implements a pay grade scale determined through agreed annual pay increases negotiated on a national basis with joint trade unions.
All other pay related allowances are the subject of either nationally or locally negotiated rates, having been determined from time to time in accordance with collective bargaining process.
Market force supplements are only paid to employees and Chief Officers in exceptional circumstances in accordance with the strict controls in the Council’s Market Supplements Policy. Any such payments are reviewed at least every six months to ensure they remain valid; the Council has not applied market supplements to any post since the introduction of the pay policy.
Progression through the grade for permanent and temporary employees, including Chief Officers, is only possible upon completion of satisfactory service and in line with the NJC terms and conditions, as described in the Green Book.
Appointments to new posts are usually made at the start of the incremental grade scale, unless there are exceptional circumstances where the most suitable candidate can evidence that such an offer would not reasonably be acceptable and the Council is satisfied that market conditions require the appointment to take place at a higher point, within the pay scale grade, than the start.
Any Chief Officer appointment is dealt with by the Chief Officer Employment Committee, using the normal recruitment procedures and options with appointments made to a post with a remuneration package of more than £100,000 being ratified by the Full Council.
Contractual overtime and additional hours are paid in accordance with the NJC Terms and Conditions, as described in the Green Book.
Non-contractual, voluntary overtime, and additional hours payments are paid in accordance with the Council’s pay review terms and agreed policy on overtime.
To meet specific operational requirements, it may be necessary for an individual to temporarily take on additional duties, the Council’s arrangements for authorising any additional remuneration, e.g. honoraria, ex gratia, ‘acting up’ relating to temporary additional duties are set out in the council’s Overtime Working & Payments policy. Any additional payment is subject to formal approval by the Chief Executive (Head of Paid Services).
Chief Officers are not permitted to be paid overtime, additional hours payments or premium payments.
No employees including Chief Officers in the Council are in receipt of bonus payments or subject to earn-back schemes where employees give up some salary to earn it back upon completion of agreed targets.
The Council does not operate performance-related pay schemes for any employees and has no plans to introduce a policy to support performance-related pay schemes.
Honorarium payments are only made in exceptional circumstances and are subject to a business case being approved in advance by the Senior Management Team with payment is preferably made after it has been demonstrated that the agreed outcome has been delivered/achieved but can be paid monthly for an agreed period.
The Council is committed to paying employees based on the recognised job evaluation schemes detailed above. It is the application of these schemes that creates the salary differentials. Pay rates for each grade are published on the Council’s intranet and updated at the start of each financial year in April.
The relationship between the highest-paid employee and the median salary will be calculated on an annual basis and published on the Council’s website alongside the information provided regarding senior manager salaries. The information is updated at the start of each financial year in April.
As part of its overall and ongoing monitoring of alignment with external pay markets, both within and outside the sector, the Council will use available benchmark information as appropriate. In addition, upon the annual review of this statement, the Council will also monitor any changes in the relevant ‘pay multiples’ and benchmark against other comparable local authorities.
In accordance with regulations introduced in 2017 the Council will publish gender pay gap information alongside all other pay policy related data on the website and update this on an annual basis.
The Expenses Policy is applicable to all employees.
The reimbursement of professional fees for certain occupational roles is covered by the Vocational Qualifications Policy and applies to all relevant employees regardless of grade.
Any other allowances paid to employees regardless of grade are detailed in the appropriate policy and procedures approved by the Council and paid only when necessary to the service activity.
Chief Officers do not receive additional allowance payments.
The Deputy Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer is the Council’s appointed Returning Officer and is personally (not corporately) liable for the management of elections and referendums. The fee payable to the Returning Officer for a UK Parliamentary and any other election or referendum organised nationally is set and paid for by Central Government. The fee payable to the Returning Officer for borough council elections was fixed at £3619.14 in 2023. Going forward this fee will be set to match the fee for the most recent Parliamentary election.
Electoral fees are also payable for both Borough and Parish Council by-elections with the fees for borough by-elections being £209.29 in 2024 for the first 3000 electors in the ward, and then £209.29 for each for each 500 electors or part thereof (fees are subject to annual inflation). For Parish byelections in 2024 the fee was set at £108.24 for the first 3000 electors in the parish or parish ward, then £108.24 for each 500 electors or part thereof over 3000 (subject to inflation).
A panel is also in place at Fylde that periodically reviews the payments made to any officers involved in election work.
Where employees have exercised their statutory right to become members of the Local Government Pension Scheme, the Council is required to contribute to the scheme representing a percentage of the pensionable remuneration due under the contract of employment of that employee. The rate of contribution is set by Actuaries advising the Pension Fund and reviewed on a triennial basis to ensure the scheme is appropriately funded. The employer contribution rates are set by statute and are available from the Payroll Team or from the latest Valuation Report which is available on the Lancashire Pension Fund website.
Under the terms of the Flexible Retirement Policy, it is permitted for an employee to be in receipt of a pension and to be paid a salary at the same time. The policy callas for a reduction in hours/grade equivalent to a 50% reduction in gross salary/pay and only employees aged 55 years and older are eligible to apply. Flexible retirement will only be granted in exceptional circumstances or extenuating personal circumstances and it is part of the Council’s approach to succession planning and is primarily aimed at applying a phased approach to full retirement.
All employees including Chief Officers are entitled to redundancy payments and pension release in accordance with the Council’s Redundancy and Retirement Procedure. Where the proposed severance package is more than £100,000, the decision will be ratified by Full Council.
The Council has an obligation to ensure that it is managing public monies responsibly and will not normally re-engage (into the same or a very similar role or consultant capacity) ex-employees who have left their prime employment with the Council on the grounds of voluntary or compulsory redundancy, efficiency release or employer consent retirement (where there is a cost to the Council) for a period of 12 months with effect from the date of leaving. This policy does not cover those employees who access their pension via the Council’s Flexible Retirement Scheme.
Any proposal to re-engage a former employee who left the Council on the grounds of voluntary or compulsory redundancy, efficiency release or employer consent retirement, within 12 months of the leaving date will require the approval of the Senior Management Team.
The Council will identify and publish all remuneration information and job descriptions relating to any officers paid more than £50,000 per annum. This includes the details of any employee who is employed on reduced hours, but pro rata would earn more than £50,000 per annum.
Post titles and salary scale bands will be published for all employees in the Council in the format of an organisational structure chart.
The Council will publish the policy on employee expenses and a table of all the salary pay scale points applicable at Fylde. The schedule of election fees paid to the Returning Officer will be published.
This information will be available on the Council’s website www.fylde.gov.uk and on request from the Council, it is updated at the start of the financial year in April. https://new.fylde.gov.uk/council/open-data/pay-scales/
This Pay Policy Statement applies to all Council employees. Employees whose terms and conditions of employment have been retained following a TUPE transfer (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) and are subject to the TUPE Regulations may be excluded from this policy.
The Pay Policy Statement will be kept under review and developments considered in the light of external best practices and legislation. The Council will ensure the Pay Policy Statement is updated on an annual basis in line with the requirement of the Localism Act 2011. The annual Pay Policy Statement will be submitted to the full Council by 31st March of each year.
