Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor David Cartwright, Peter Turner, Charles Obazuaye and Emma Downie. Antoinette Thorne acted as substitute for Charles and Emma, representing  the Human Resources Department.

Apologies were received from Councillor Andrew Lee and Councillor Nicholas Bennett acted as substitute.

Apologies were received from Councillor Jessica Arnold and Councillor Chris Price attended as substitute.

Apologies were received from Councillor Rebecca Wiffen and Councillor Pauline Tunnicliffe.

From the Departmental Representatives, apologies were received from Billy McIver and Louise Sylver.

Councillor Simon Fawthrop declared an interest as his wife was line managed by the Assistant Director of HR.

The Chairman was not present at the previous meeting of the LJCC that took place on the 24th of February 2021. He therefore asked the Vice Chairman and Councillor Bennett if they would be able to agree the minutes and they responded in the affirmative.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the LJCC that met on the 24th of February 2021 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

The Staff Side would like to raise the following matter for discussion:

How and in what time frame does the Council propose to respond to the impact of the cost of living crisis on staff in the light of the LBB pay award of 2.25%, effectively a very significant pay cut with the RPI climbing to 11.8% and the CPI to 9.4% in July. Other factors which will also be impacting the financial security of staff include October’s energy price increases which have yet to take effect on heating bills with the consequential impact affecting retail cost of goods and services that staff rely on. Whilst capped, this new cap is still 27% above the summer 2022 cap. In addition there is the increased cost of borrowing predicted over the last few days.

The Vice Chairman asked how and in what time frame did the Council propose to respond to the impact of the cost of living crisis on staff in light of the LBB April pay award of 2.25%,  which was (in her view) effectively a very significant pay cut with the RPI now currently climbing to 11.8% and the CPI to 9.4% in July. Other factors which were also impacting on the financial security of staff included October’s energy price increases which had yet to take effect on heating bills, with the consequential effect of increasing the price of retail goods and services that staff were dependent upon.

The Vice Chairman stated that whilst capped, the new energy cap was still 27% above the summer 2022 cap. In addition, there was the increased cost of borrowing predicted recently.

When the pay award was considered, the CPI was 5.4%--this was noted in a report to the GP&L Committee in February 2022. She said that in August 2022 the data was worse: RPI – 12.3% : CPI – 9.9%. The Vice Chairman referred to the current economic climate and its impact on staff because of the current market uncertainty and the rise in interest rates.

She outlined the following impact on staff:

All Staff:

·  Heating: energy costs were rising despite central government  intervention

·  Food:  prices were rising at their fastest rate for 40 years

·  Cost of fuel – (car milage allowance)

·  Mortgages / rental costs

·  Debt (Loans & credit cards)

·  Possible impact on pensions--although it was recognised that LBB had a good track record.

Impact on lowest paid

The 2.25% pay award this April brought the lowest hourly rate (BR3 spinal point 8) within the London Living Wage (LLW) by a penny (then £11.05 /hr), but…

·  The LLW was  an independent calculation based on what people needed to live on); the annual review reflecting the cost of living crisis was revised last month to £11.95 per hour. 

·  Now BR3, BR4 and up to spinal point 14 in BR5 fell below the London Living Wage.

·  The lower paid spent a greater proportion of their income on basics (shelter, heating & food). The rate of grocery inflation rose to 13.9% last month--its highest level since records began in 2008 (Financial Times).

The Vice Chairman suggested that there would also be impacts upon the Council in terms of the effect on recruitment, retention and staff morale. It was important that in times when it was difficult to recruit staff, that the Council had a good staff retention rate. 

The Assistant Director of HR (Human Resources) responded and said that the Council realised and appreciated the difficulties that existed now and that may also develop in the future. She explained that this was an issue that was being looked at nationally. The Council was monitoring the national discussions that were taking place and was waiting to see what the outcome of these discussions would be. One of the unions had accepted a national increase. The Council was also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

The Staff Side request an update on the Council’s Accommodation Strategy and its implications for staff. Until it is understood what the Accommodation Strategy looks like, it won't be clear what the implications might be for staff and how this will affect staff working conditions whilst in the office or at home. For example, whilst COVID led to a particular way of working there will be costs for staff associated with a more formal hybrid way of working--not least heating costs over the winter.

The Staff Side asked for the following matter to be discussed:

The Staff Side request an update on the Council’s Accommodation Strategy and its implications for staff. Until it is understood what the Accommodation Strategy looks like, it won't be clear what the implications might be for staff and how this will affect staff working conditions whilst in the office or at home. For example, whilst COVID led to a particular way of working there will be costs for staff associated with a more formal hybrid way of working--not least heating costs over the winter.

The Assistant Director for HR explained that not much information could be shared at the meeting as everything was under review and matters were commercially sensitive. It was anticipated that information regarding the Accommodation Strategy would be available around the end of November. The Leader said it was anticipated that a report on the Accommodation Strategy would go to the meeting of the Executive in November.

Sara Wright asked if there would be any consultation on the matter. The Chairman responded and said it would be a matter for the Members to decide. Thomas Carver asked if there would be scope for a different procedure and Councillor Chris Price was keen that the opinion of staff should be sought and he asked for staff to be involved in a consultation process before Members took matters further and made decisions. The Chairman said that it would be good for the matter to be on the next LJCC agenda which would be a week after the relevant Executive meeting. It was also the case that the matter would be discussed at Full Council.

The Leader said that the Accommodation Strategy did not need to go for consultation and that staff were likely to be very encouraged by what would be proposed.  He said that what was likely to be proposed in the Strategy would provide greater choice and flexibility for staff in terms of their working arrangements than was currently the case. Mr Carver responded and said that this was good news but nevertheless he felt that some form of staff engagement was important. The Leader responded and said that staff would be able to comment when the Executive agenda was published.

A Member mentioned that prior to going to the Executive, and Full Council, the Accommodation Strategy report would be scrutinised by the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee and there was also a possibility that the matter may additionally go to the Renewal, Recreation and Housing Committee. Staff would be very welcome to come along to these scrutiny committees and ask questions. There would also be a meeting with the Departmental Representatives. It was also important to note that Members had to make a decision and this decision would be in the interests not only of staff but of local residents. The Leader was hopeful that by the time the report came to the PDS committees, the details would be in a Part 1 (public)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

The Chairman has requested an update on the solvency of the Pension Fund.

The Chairman had requested an update on the solvency of the pension fund as he was aware that because of the current economic climate (with spikes in inflation and gilts and bonds having issues), it was important to discuss the solvency of the fund. The Senior Accountant (Pension Fund) was in attendance to provide advice as required and assured that the LBB Pension Fund was in a good place and was one of the better performing funds.

Councillor Simon Fawthrop (who sat on the Pension Committee) provided an update regarding the CIV (Collective Investment Vehicle).

Web link: https://londonciv.org.uk/

Councillor Fawthrop expressed the view that the London Collective Investment Vehicle was not one of the best. He said that the Council had put £700,000 into the CIV and had got nothing in return. He said that the LCIV had trade union representation on the management board but apparently had not queried why the CIV was not performing well. He therefore asked the trade union representatives attending the LJCC meeting if they could ask their representatives on the London CIV to look at this. 

In terms of the Bromley Pension Fund he said that Councillors acted as ‘Trustees’ and tried to maximise returns for pensioners. Every three years there was a tri annual review of the pension fund and one was due in November. The review was undertaken by an actuary and looked at the investment strategies of the fund and how it could be shaped for the future. The aim of the Pension Committee was to avoid any future financial ‘black holes’ and to make sure that pensions were protected.

The Chairman asked if the £700,000 was a management fee or if it was an investment that had been wasted in some way. It was noted that the £700,000 was made up of annual membership fees and purchased share capital. It was explained that the Council had not invested money in the schemes themselves because if they had done, the Council would not be able to determine how the funds should be invested and would  probably have lost money.

The Chairman asked if there was anything that the Staff Side could do in view of the fact that there was trade union representation on the CIV Management Board. The Vice Chairman responded by saying that the Staff Side union representatives did not have the relevant knowledge and expertise to comment on the matter. However, Sara Wright offered to raise this issue with the Unison Branch Secretary to escalate it and get more information and feedback for the next LJCC meeting.

Councillor Simon Fawthrop informed the Committee that the London CIV had a shareholders committee and there was union representation on that. He said he would have expected them to feedback to the union branches. He said that there was a union representative on the Pensions Board and it used to be the case that the trade union sent representatives to the Council's Pensions Committee. It was important that they took an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

The Committee is requested to note that the next meeting will be held on 7^th December 2022.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as the 7th of December. The Chairman requested that, in view of the poor attendance, the times of the meeting be changed. He suggested trying  that the pre-meetings commence at 7:00 pm, with the main meeting commencing at 7:30 pm, a timing used successfully by the Development Control Committee.

The matter of AOB was raised and it was noted that this was not normally an item that was on any Council agendas, as officers needed notice of issues to be raised. However the Chairman allowed Councillor Price to ask about the Staff Survey, as this was in the minutes of the previous meeting. Thomas Carver informed the Committee that there was going to be a meeting the following Monday for the findings of this year’s Staff Survey to be fed back to staff. This would be reported to committees in due course. The Leader asked if someone could inform him of the date that Councillors were due to meet with the Departmental Representatives

The following items were suggested for the next meeting:

1.  An update on the Accommodation Strategy

2.  An update on Pensions and the CIV

3.  An update on the Staff Survey

4.  An update on the block grant from central government.

In conclusion, the Leader informed the Committee that at the recent meeting of Full Council there had been cross party agreement that the Council was not in a position to bear the burden of any more cutbacks from central government and that the Council would not be able to deal with additional responsibilities without sufficient funding. The Staff Side completely agreed that Local Authorities must be appropriately funded by Central Government.