Minutes of an HR Committee meeting held on Tuesday 20 December 2022 at Ruskington Parish Office at 10.00am.

Present: Cllr O Ditch (Chairman), Cllr P Cunningham, Cllr G Cox, Cllr AE Jennings

Also in attendance: Kathryn Locke (Clerk to Council)

No members of the public or press were present.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 10.00am.

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

All Committee members were present.

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

None were declared at this time.

3. To approve as a correct record the notes of the last HR Committee meeting held on 21 November 2022.

Action: The Committee RESOLVED to accept the notes of the meeting held on 21 November as accurate Minutes, with three votes for and one abstention (not present at the previous meeting.)

4. To review the Co-option Policy and agree any amendments for recommending to Council.

Action: The Committee RESOLVED unanimously to recommend the co-option policy and application form with one amendment to remove the section on sponsors.

5. To consider the requirements for council caretaker roles following the resignation of the Parish Caretaker.

Action: The Committee RESOLVED unanimously to recommend to Council that two caretaker roles be considered. 

   5.1. To agree the job title, working hours, pay scale and pay points for the new caretaker or caretakers for recommending to Council.

Action: The Committee RESOLVED unanimously for two positions to be recommended to Council: 1. A Caretaker for Buildings and Play Equipment to include DIY/handyperson skills for 30 hours per week. Pay scale: SCP7 (£11.63 per hour from 1 April 2023 as agreed in the draft budget).

2. A Parish Caretaker with a focus on the street scene (litter picking, cleaning benches and helping keep the cemetery and Memorial Garden tidy and weed free) for 18.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday). Pay scale: SCP6 (£11.42 per hour for 2023-2024 as agreed in the draft budget.)

The job descriptions would be based on the existing job descriptions for these roles. Both roles to include the requirement for working overtime to cover cleaning of the sports facilities and the public toilets until a contract cleaning service was researched and considered by Council.

A consultation with the Environment Caretaker would take place to consider removing section 5 of his job description (issuing fines for littering.) It was also to be recommended that the public toilets only be opened from 8am to 4pm and a payment system to use the toilets be investigated.

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

Action: The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to exclude the public and press to discuss the matter below.

11.10am. The Clerk left the meeting and the Clerk and RFO left the office.

7. To consider the Clerk and RFO, as local government officers with local government (NJC) contracts, being enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme.

No actual figures for the employer and employer contributions into the Local Government Pension Scheme were available and it appeared that these were only provided when an application to join the scheme had been made. The RFO had made several attempts to speak to the Lincolnshire Pension Fund without success.

Action: The Committee required the actual figures for the employee and employer's contributions and the benefits for the employee and the employer to be able to consider the matter.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 11.40am.

The Clerk and RFO returned to the building.