Minutes of an HR Committee meeting held on Monday 29 November 2021 at Ruskington Parish Office at 10.30am.

Present: Cllr Ditch (Chairman), Cllr Cunningham, Cllr White, Cllr Conway

Also, present Kathryn Locke (Clerk)

Apologies: Cllr Tonge

No members of the public were present.

The meeting opened at 10.30am.

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

Cllr Tonge was not present at the meeting and had sent apologies.

Action: The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to accept Cllr Tonge’s valid reason for absence.

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 remotely on 18 November 2021.

Action: The Committee unanimously, RESOLVED to accept the notes of the meeting held on 18 November 2021 as accurate Minutes.

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

Action: The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to exclude the public and press to discuss the following staffing matters.

5. To receive an update on the occupational health request for an employee.

No response had been received from LCC’s Occupational Health Department.

Action: The Clerk to find an alternative Occupational Health provider.

6. To consider the incident occurring on Wednesday 3 November 2021 and the Council’s decision on this matter.

The Committee agreed to move this to after agenda item 8, below.

7. To consider concerns raised by a member of the public regarding an employee’s social media posts.

The staff member had been asked to read the social media policy again and to sign that they had read this and agreed with its contents.

Action: The Clerk to advise on the use of privacy settings, the need to remove posts that contravened the social media policy, and of the public perception on posts made by council members and staff.

8. To receive an update on the non-clerical pay review consultations.

Individual draft letters were reviewed and approved. These contained the reasons for the proposed changes to non-clerical staff pay scale guidance from 1 April 2022, details of current pay and personal proposed pay illustrations. The pay awards for year 2021-2022 had not yet been agreed.

Action: The Clerk to issue the letters to the individuals concerned and arrange the face-to-face staff consultation meetings.

9. To consider the incident occurring on Wednesday 3 November 2021 and the Council’s decision on this matter.

At 11.05am the Clerk left the room.

Following the issue of a Verbal Warning to a staff member and that staff member’s subsequent ‘informal appeal’ against the warning, an internal investigation by the RPC HR Cttee discovered further evidence suggesting that the initial Warning should be supplemented by the issue of a Final Written Warning. 

Action:  All evidence relating to the Disciplinary procedures would be presented at formally convened meeting at 2pm on 2 November 20021 after which the staff member would be afforded 7 days to submit a formal reply.

10. To review the pay for the Clerk and Deputy Clerk & RFO for financial year 2022-2023. 

The Committee RESOLVED to recommend to Council that pay increases would be in accordance with the Annual Recommendations of the National Agreement on Salaries and Conditions of Service of Local Council Clerks in England and Wales.  The Committee further RESOLVED to review the Salaries against Profile 3 of the aforementioned document if the RPC Budget exceeded the £250,000 threshold for that Profile.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 12.25pm.  

The Clerk returned to the room.