Minutes of an HR Committee meeting held on Thursday 17 October 2024 at Ruskington Parish Office at 10.30am.

Present: Cllr C Bain (Chairman), Cllr AE Jennings, Cllr D Conway

Also in attendance: Kathryn Locke (Clerk to Council)

No members of the public or press were present.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 10.43am.

1. To receive and accept apologies where valid reasons for absence have been given to the Parish Clerk prior to the meeting.

All Councillors were present.

2. To receive declarations of interest and to consider applications for dispensations in relation to DPIs.

None were declared.

3.  To approve as a correct record the notes of the last HR Committee meeting held on 19 September 2024.

Action: The Committee RESOLVED to approve the notes as accurate Minutes. Proposed by Cllr Bain, seconded by Cllr Jennings and approved unanimously.

The Chairman signed the Minutes.

4. To review the following policies: -

The policies had been circulated prior to the meeting. It was agreed that moving forward, policies would begin with a short summary of the contents. Cllr Bain would show the Clerk how to do this using AI.

   4.1.  Volunteer policy

   4.2. Health & Safety policy

   4.3. Communication policy

The communication policy had been adapted to include an updated social media plus electronic communication guidance. It was also noted that a new email was being created for general enquiries to the parish council. The inbox would have shared access for the Clerk, RFO, and Admin Assistant.

Action: The Committee RESOLVED that the Health & Safety Policy and Communication Policy be recommended to Council at its next meeting. Cllr Conway to review the Volunteer Policy and provide the Clerk with suggested amendments by Tuesday 29 October 2024. Proposed by Cllr Bain, seconded by Cllr Jennings and approved unanimously.

5. To receive/ consider the latest information on statutory sick pay from the Government, if available.

The Government was still proposing changes to statutory sick pay.

Action: Consideration of the information was deferred until the Government had approved and published the statutory sick pay information.

6. To receive information on the statutory obligations for employers introduced by Government in September and October 2024.

The Clerk had attended online training with LALC’s HR Adviser on Thursday 10 October 2024. This included new legislation on the sexual harassment (s40A Equality Act 2010) which became law in October 2024 and created additional legal requirements for Councils, and all Employers, to take pro-active steps to prevent sexual harassment at work. Other employment legislation had yet to be finalised and made law. Information from the training had been emailed to all councillors and was discussed with staff at a staff meeting held on 16/10/2024. During the committee meeting, the training slides pertaining to sexual harassment were shared and discussed. New legislation made clear that councils would need to take pro-active steps to demonstrate they were preventing sexual harassment both internally, and from third parties such as the public. The Committee noted that Government had yet to define what the pro-active steps were, and that LALC were producing a model document. It was recognised that Council’s current Dignity at Work Policy had been amended to include sexual harassment, with information on reporting, investigating and managing claims of sexual harassment, but that a new sexual harassment policy was required.

Action: The Committee RESOLVED to brief the Council on the new sexual harassment legislation at its next meeting on 12 November 2024, with the slides form the training made available prior to and during the meeting. A new sexual harassment policy to be written, based on Government legislation and LALC’s model document, with the opportunity for staff to be involved in its development. The policy would be reviewed annually. Proposed by Cllr Bain, seconded by Cllr Conway and approved unanimously.

7. To resolve whether to exclude the public and press, in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960, to discuss the staffing and confidential matters below.

The Committee RESOLVED to close the meeting to the public and press to discuss the staffing and confidential matters below.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 11.37am. The meeting re-convened at 11.37am.

8. To receive the financial costs for the pension contributions paid by Council to staff in the FY 2024-2025.

The RFO had previously circulated the financial costs for the Council’s contributions to staff pensions for the current year. The Committee asked if the RFO could attend the meeting to discuss the figures and to provide an update on the pension contribution figures for FY 2025-2026. The RFO joined the meeting at 11.43am and answered questions from the Committee. It was noted that the pay awards for 2024-2025 were still being discussed between the unions and the Government and that discussions on the pay awards for 2025-2026 had yet to commence. The RFO left the meeting at 11.54am. 

Action: The RFO to provide an updated overview of expected pay and pension expenditure. The Committee RESOLVED to discuss their recommendations for staff pensions at the meeting on 12 November 2024. (This had not taken place at the November meeting as Cllr Bain had been unable to attend the meeting.) Proposed by Cllr Jennings, seconded by Cllr Bain and approved unanimously.

9. To receive an update on the workloads of the Environment and Building Caretakers.

The Caretaker advised that the contract cleaner for the public toilets commenced on Monday 4 November 2024 for six months. The Environment Caretaker was busy with tree and hedge work, which would continue over the winter months and the Buildings Caretaker was installing the kitchen at the rear of the office, painting the changing rooms and maintaining the play equipment.  Both caretakers would be busy with the Christmas tree preparation and installations from 15 November 2024. The loss of a caretaker was noticed in the routine cemetery maintenance, such as the removal of dead flowers and wreaths, the growth of grass over the paths, and the inability to litter pick other than the centre of the village, the playing fields and the play areas.

10. To agree the date for the next HR Committee meeting.

To be confirmed.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 12.06pm.