Agenda item

The Board welcomed Cllr James Lewis, Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council, who had been invited to the Board to discuss the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) Low Pay Charter. WYCA had submitted a motion to the LGA General Assembly in 2016 on the Charter, which was subsequently referred to the Resources Board by the LGA Executive.

As part of his presentation, Cllr Lewis made the following points:

·         The WYCA had decided that there would not be economic development, large scale regeneration or infrastructure improvements in the area without economic growth to benefit everyone.

·         The average wage in Yorkshire was £2,000 less than the UK average, there was a high and increasing number of people on zero hours contracts, and from 2010 there was an increase in the number of people living in areas of deprivation. The WYCA had addressed this through the Low Pay Charter, and adjusting the pay scale so that lowest paid employees received the Living Wage. Staff were also encouraged to enrol in the Local Government Pension Scheme.

·         Councils had invested an additional £4m into pay for staff, and it was anticipated that £3.4m of this would flow back into the local economy.

·         Local authorities in the area were some of the biggest employers, and it was necessary to take action to support the lowest paid employees to show that they were valued and improve productivity.

·         WYCA had acknowledged as part of the review of the Charter that 50% of staff who benefited from the Living Wage, particularly part-time staff, did not feel that the scheme had been communicated well enough. Many staff were not engaged with their employers, and more communication work was required to build trust in the employers.

·         What worked for 5 large metropolitan councils would not necessarily work across all councils in LGA membership, but the principles of the scheme were commended to the Board.

In the discussion which followed, Members made the following points:

·         Many points included in the WYCA’s Low Pay Charter were under consideration as part of the review of the national pay spine, and a further update on that was included as part of the Workforce Update item later on the agenda.

·         It was important for councils to be able to encourage older staff to keep working, but also bring younger people into the workforce.

·         Staff employed by contractors would have to be paid the national minimum wage, but not necessarily the Living Wage. Cllr Lewis highlighted that social care in Leeds was a mixed economy between directly provided and outsourced work, but that the council had signed Unison’s ethical pay charter and ensured that the minimum pay rate was higher than the national minimum wage. This would lead to a higher cost to the council.

·         There was a difficulty in engaging staff who were employed as contractors, particularly staff in schools, who did not see the council as their employer. It was important to get communications to these groups of staff right.

The Chair thanked Cllr Lewis for his presentation, which would inform the Board’s work on the low pay agenda.

Decision

The Board noted the presentation from West Yorkshire Combined Authority on the West Yorkshire Low Pay Charter, which would inform the LGA’s ongoing work on this issue.