The report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer is now attached.

A report presented the draft Manchester City Council Pay Policy Statement for 2020/21. The statement set out the direction of travel in relation to pay for Manchester’s officers for the year ahead and detailed how that would seek to support the delivery of the City Council’s aims and objectives.

The report explained that the statement had been developed to comply with the legal requirement set out under section 38 (1) of the Localism Act 2011 and takes account of other relevant legislative requirements.

The draft Statement also included information on the Council’s ‘Gender Pay Gap’ and work to proactively promote workforce equality, in accordance with the requirement to carry out Gender Pay Reporting set out within The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.

It was explained that on 11 November 2019 the Council had been accredited by the Living Wage Foundation as a ‘Living Wage Employer’. The Living Wage Foundation had also announced the new real living wage hourly rate for the coming year of £9.30 per hour, an increase of 30p per hour. Accredited Living Wage Employers were required to implement the rise within six months. The Manchester Living Wage would therefore be aligned to the new real living wage rate from 1 April 2020 in accordance with the Council’s policy to keep them aligned.

Decisions

1.         To recommend that the Council approves the draft Pay Policy Statement appended to these minutes.

2.         To recommend that the Council approves the organisation’s Pay and Grading Structure for the financial year 2020/21 (Appendix A of the Pay Policy Statement 2020/21).

3.         To note the formal accreditation of the Council as a ‘Living Wage Employer’ by the Living Wage Foundation and the alignment of the Manchester Living Wage to the new real living wage rate of £9.30 per hour from 1 April 2020.

The report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer is now attached.

As the meeting was started and then adjourned this item was deferred until the meeting was to resume on Wednesday 25 March 2020.