States Employment Board: Annual Report 2013.

STATES OF JERSEY

STATES EMPLOYMENT BOARD: ANNUAL REPORT 2013

Presented to the States on 12th August 2014 by the States Employment Board

STATES GREFFE

2014   Price code: B  R.119

REPORT

1. The Constitution of the Board

1. The Board consisted of the following members from 1st January 2013 until 31st December 2013 –

1. Senator I.J. Gorst , Chief Minister (Chairman)
2. Deputy A.K.F. Green of St. Helier , M.B.E., Minister for Housing
3. Deputy E.J. Noel of St. Lawrence , Assistant Minister for Treasury and Resources
4. Connétable D.W. Mezbourian of St. Lawrence
5. Deputy J.M. Le Bailly of St. Mary .

2. The States Greffe provides administrative support to the Board.
3. The Board received advice from Beverley Shears, F.C.I.P.D., as an adviser to the Board.

2. The number of meetings held during the year

1. In 2013, there were 28 meetings of the Board, of which one was conducted by electronic mail.
2. There were no appeals by manual workers heard by members of the Board during 2013.
   3. A summary of key matters considered by the Board in 2013

1. Pay Review 2012–2014

The Board gave consideration to the pay review for States employees for 2012–2014 and received regular update reports regarding pay.

1. The 2012–2014  Pay  Strategy  was  re-affirmed  at  their  meeting  in January. The Board remained committed to maintaining dialogue with employee groups and achieving an acceptable settlement within the agreed mandate.
2. A  final  offer  was  made  to Nurses  and  Midwives,  and  this  was implemented in June. In endorsing this offer the Board was mindful of recruitment  and  staffing  pressures,  whilst  moving  forward  with modernisation of their Terms and Conditions, and the need to set pay at an appropriate level.
3. It was agreed that the Review of Teachers' pay would take place in 2014/15.
4. A 4% award for 2014 was endorsed for all pay groups (excluding Prison, Fire and Rescue Services, whose award was subsumed into their revised pay structures), and an in principle agreement was signed with the leading Trade Unions to move to new collective bargaining

and consultation frameworks in 2014 as part of the modernisation programme.  The  award  also  required  all  trade  unions  to  fully participate  in  the  Workforce  Modernisation  Programme  going forward.

2. Public Sector Reform and Workforce Modernisation

The Board gave continued attention to the employment considerations arising from  the  Reform  of  the  Public  Sector  and  the  Workforce  Modernisation Programme.

1. The Board recognised and welcomed that there had been significant engagement on the part of all Trade Unions and Staff Associations involved with the Workforce Modernisation Programme, which had seen their representatives working constructively with the Employer across a wide range of employment matters.
2. The Board noted and warmly welcomed the recommendation from the Joint Employer/Trade Union Working Party to absorb the role of the Manual Workers' Joint Council into the proposed negotiation and consultation framework.
3. The Board reviewed and endorsed the Public Sector Reform activities planned for 2013, following approval by the Council of Ministers.
4. The Board considered the proposed reshaping of policies and terms and  conditions  of  service  as  a  work-stream  of  the  Workforce Modernisation Project.

3. Alternative Service Provision

This issue was the subject of several discussions at the SEB between the Board and Housing and Ports.

1. The Board  received  regular  reports  on  the  progress  of  the  Staff Transfer Working Party conducted jointly with Unite and Prospect, and noted that considerable engagement had taken place with both Housing and Ports staff.
2. The Board received reports regarding the Housing Transformation Programme  and  gave  its endorsement  following  consultation  with staff and Trade Unions.
3. The Board  received  updates  on  the  restructuring  programme  for Jersey Airport and Harbours, and noted the 2013 activities regarding employee engagement and the development of the Plan, Perform, Progress' performance management framework.

4. Compromise agreements

There were no compromise agreements which required the approval of the Board in 2013.

5. Pensions

1. The Board received reports on, and considered a number of matters in relation  to,  Pensions,  Public  Employees  Contributory  Retirement Scheme  (PECRS)  and  the  Jersey  Teachers'  Superannuation  Fund (JTSF).

• Pension provisions 2015
• Admitted Body Status Applications
• Amendments to Regulations
• Small pension arrangements
• Qualified Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS)
• Care Scheme proposals.

2. In considering future pension proposals, the Board received regular updates from the Treasurer of the States, the Pensions Project Director and the Employer's Negotiator for pensions provisions on behalf of the Joint Negotiating Group. The Board noted the underlying reasons for proposals to amend the current employee pension scheme, which included  increased  life  expectancy,  the  current  low  level  of contribution  rates,  challenging  investment  returns  and  inequity between employment groups. The Board endorsed the progress being made and thanked the team for their hard work thus far.
3. The Board approved nominations to the Committee of Management for both PECRS and JTSF.

6. Pay and remuneration over £100,000 (P.59/2011)

Pursuant to the adoption by the States Assembly on 8th June 2011 of SEB's proposition  P.59/2011  (as  amended),  entitled:  "Salaries  over  £100,000: process for review and scrutiny", the Board received a number of applications for appointments to be made where the remuneration for the post attracted a salary of over £100,000. (The report on P.59 applications is attached to this report at Appendix 2.)

7. Public Sector salaries

The Board endorsed a report for presentation to the States Assembly entitled Remuneration  Report  for  Employees  Remunerated  £70,000  and  above  in 2012', which was presented to the States on 30th August 2013 as R.102/2013.

8. Jersey Appointments Commission

1. The Board  endorsed  the  terms  of  office  for  membership  of  the Commission in accordance with Article 18(2) of the Employment of States  of  Jersey  Employees  (Jersey)  Law  2005,  enabling  the appointment of a Commissioner, Mr. Julian Rogers.

2. The Board received the Annual Report of the Commission and agreed that the Chief Minister should present the finalised report to the States Assembly.
3. The Board received a report regarding the future constitution of the Commission, and endorsed the tenure of all current Commissioners to April 2015 pending any revisions to the Employment of States of Jersey Employees (Jersey) Law 2005 presently under consideration.

9. Health and Safety

1. The Board received a Corporate Health and Safety Performance and Activity Report, which showed a cultural improvement in health and safety management performance across the States.
2. The Board  welcomed  the  establishment  of  a corporate  health  and safety post, and the development of health and safety leadership at the Chief Officer and senior management level.
3. The Board  noted  the  establishment  of  the  Health  and  Safety Co-ordination Group and Health and Safety Practitioner Group, which would  further  facilitate  shared  knowledge  and  improvements  in collation  of  performance  data  such  as  accident  and  near miss' statistics.

10. Suspensions and the Memorandum of Understanding

1. The Board  received  regular  reports  from  the  Suspension  Review Panel.
2. With regard to the Memorandum of Understanding (an agreement to review  persons  excluded  or  suspended  from  duty  as  a  result  of potentially concurrent internal disciplinary and criminal investigatory procedures),  the  Board  noted  continued  use  of  this  forum  as  an effective  and  appropriate  means  of  reviewing  and  managing  such cases.

4. Miscellaneous Matters

4.1  The  Board  considered  a  number  of  miscellaneous  matters,  including  the following –

• Manual Workers' Joint Council nominations
• Departmental reviews for Law Officers and the Pathology Service
• Review of compliance with Financial Directives
• Various employment matters.

5. Key Manpower Statistics

5.1  Attached at Appendix 1 are key manpower statistics for 2013.

APPENDIX 1

Key Manpower Statistics

Headcount (the number of people actually in post as at 31st December 2013):

Assumptions:

All figures have come from the Final December 2013 Corporate Reports. The above figures are not including the following departments –

Jersey Ports

Jersey Car Parks

Jersey Fleet Management

States Assembly

Non-Ministerial SFB Overseas Aid

The multiple appointments across departments might be in the departments that are not included in the above.

The changes arising from the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012 meant changes in our exemptions. We now have to include the following in our headcount –

• Exempt Pensioners

• Special Needs

• Exempt Students.

"Licensed" category employees (The number of employees, as at 31st December 2013, with a Licensed' category housing licence (previously JJ'):

Assumptions:

The figures reported for 2012 only reported on permanent J-Cat staff and not J-Cat staff on fixed-term contracts. The above is reporting on both permanent and fixed-term staff.

The Corporate Report counts staff twice if they have more than one job within the States of Jersey. For example, a teacher on a J-Cat licence with an additional job of lunchtime cover will be counted twice.

Non-locally qualified employees (the number of employees, as at 31st December 2013, non-locally qualified under the Regulation of Undertakings and Development (Jersey) Law 1973):

75 or 1.08% of the reported headcount above. Sickness Absence 2013

Turnover 2013

(The movement out of established posts)

APPENDIX 2

STATES EMPLOYMENT BOARD P.59/2011: REPORT FOR STATES MEMBERS

Background

P.59/2011 identified the need for a process to be used when all posts at Civil Service Grade 15 equivalent and above are to be replaced, or where there is a significant change to an existing senior post that fits into this category. This process has now been in place since June 2011.

Departments are required to submit P.59 requests for formal approval to SEB, and where recruitment to a post is necessary this cannot be undertaken until SEB approval has been given.

The Jersey Appointments Commission has been appropriately engaged in recruitment to these posts once approval has been given by the SEB. The SEB has been mindful of the need to ensure adequate provision is made for succession planning when giving approval to applications.

Each  P.59  submission  has  to  be  supported  by  a  full  job  description,  person specification,  organisation  chart  and,  where  appropriate,  a  current  job  evaluation. Salary data, including any benchmarking data, is provided to ensure that informed approval is made by the SEB.

The SEB has been keen to ensure that wherever possible, appointments to posts are drawn from the local market.

ACTIVITY REPORT JANUARY – DECEMBER 2013

During this period, a total of 17 applications under P.59/2011 were submitted to the SEB  for  their  consideration  (see  attached  table  for  reference  and  detail). Seventeen applications were approved and none were refused. Eleven applications were approved by the Chief Executive under delegated authority from the SEB; all these were for existing posts.

Applications for 3 new posts were considered, one of which was in Health and Social Services (9 out of 17 applications of the overall total applications were made by Health  and  Social  Services),  and  2  were  in  the  Chief  Minister's  Department. Two applications were for extensions to existing posts – one in Health and Social Services and one in the Chief Minister's Department.

A comparison table of application made in 2012 and 2013 is attached to this report for comparison. Overall there is drop in applications – 17 in 2013, with 28 over the same period in 2012.

Four posts were filled by internal candidates, and 13 posts were recruited externally, of which 12 were additionally advertised in the UK.

Thirteen of the applications were for existing posts, 3 were for new posts, and one was for additional posts in an existing structure.

The rationale for payment in all cases was based on current job evaluation, relevant benchmarking information and prevailing market forces.

An analysis of all applications made under P.59/2011 is used to inform work on succession  planning,  senior  manager  compensation, performance  management  and retention and recruitment planning.

12

R.119/2014