MD2697 Pay award for 2020 for the GLA’s Statutory Officers

1.1 On 16 April 2020, Unison submitted a pay claim for GLA staff for the financial year 2020-21. The claim contained several elements as follows:

• an increase of 2% for all GLA staff on Grade 1 and above;

• an additional £500 payment for all staff, pro-rated for part time staff; and

• a day of compulsory closure on 24 December, or on the closest weekday.

In addition, Unison have requested that a GLA and GLA Unison pay working group be established and tasked with formulating a two or three-year pay deal to be finalised at the start of the delayed new Mayoral term in May 2021.

1.2 Even though provision was made in the current 2020/21 GLA budget for a 2% pay award to all staff, the COVID-19 pandemic has put considerable strain on the GLA’s short and medium-term financial position. Therefore, the Chief Officer has had to consider alternative options in respect of pay negotiations for 2020/21, given the imperative to protect as many jobs as possible in the GLA despite needing to make considerable savings this year and next.

1.3 After due consideration it was the Chief Officer’s view that Unison’s claim was not affordable in the present climate, given the need to make savings while protecting jobs. The Chief Officer took account of the desirability of weighting the pay award towards the lowest grades, including a comparison with local government, central government and functional body pay settlements, and affordability.

1.4 The Chief Officer’s counter-offer (which was accepted by Unison on behalf of their members on 15 September 2020) was:

• a 2% increase for staff on Grades 1 – 7 only;

• a 0% increase for staff on Grades 8 and above;

• no additional £500 payment for any staff; and

• no additional closure day on 24 December.

1.5 The Chief Officer’s rationale was that:

• The increase of 2% for staff at Grades 1-7 ensures that our lowest paid staff, including our security and other FM staff who have been attending City Hall and Union Street throughout the pandemic and will continue to do so, will receive, in part, the award which Unison has proposed. The Chief Officer also considered the average London public sector salary. This is £41,800 (ONS – Earnings and hours worked, UK region by public and private sector: ASHE Table 25) which maps broadly on to the GLA’s Grade 7 salary band (£40-44,000). This will not apply to our staff on the London Living Wage whose pay is determined independently. There are c360 staff across Grades 1 – 7, representing 31% of the GLA’s current headcount. Salary levels for staff in these grades range from £22k to £44.4k at the 2019/20 rate. Making this award alone equates to approximately £335k and means that the balance of the funds originally budgeted for a pay award – c£1.3m – can contribute to meeting the GLA saving target in 2020/21 and beyond.

• The GLA’s annual leave entitlement is already generous and the several progressive policies brought in over the last twelve months have increased the entitlements for paid leave for staff in a range of circumstances – including the additional paid leave which is now provided for in the Carers and Dependency Leave, Bereavement Leave, and Domestic and Gender Based Violence and Abuse policies.

1.6 The Chief Officer met Unison on 2 June and 20 August to discuss the claim and to advise them of the pay offer. Final agreement on the staff pay award has been authorised via CO 211.

1.7 The Mayor and Assembly were also consulted on the Chief Officer’s proposal. The Assembly considered its response at the 9 September 2020 meeting of its GLA Oversight Committee.

1.8 The pay award was implemented in the October payroll and back dated to 1 April 2020.

1.9 The Mayor is entitled to appoint 13 members of staff under section 67(1) of the GLA Act 1999 (as amended) on such terms and conditions, including pay, as the Mayor thinks appropriate. The Mayor decided to freeze the pay for this group of staff and their salaries will therefore remain unaltered for 2020-21.

1.10 In light of the decision on staff pay, the current financial pressures facing the GLA and the fact the three Statutory Officers’ salaries are considerably higher than the staff in scope for a salary increase for 2020, it is proposed the pay for the Chief Officer and Executive Director of Resources remains unaltered for 2020. Further, it is proposed that the additional allowance paid to the substantive post holder carrying out the Monitoring Officer’s functions should also remain unchanged for 2020.

2.1 The Mayor and Assembly, acting jointly, must determine the pay award for the GLA’s statutory officers in line with Sections 72, 73 and 127Aof the GLA Act 1999 (as amended), noting that the Monitoring Officer role is being carried out by a postholder in addition to their existing substantive role. The pay for that postholder’s existing substantive role is being settled through the staff pay award in the normal way. This decision therefore relates solely to the Chief Officer (the statutory Head of Paid Service function is intrinsic to that role) and the Executive Director of Resources (the statutory Chief Finance Officer function is intrinsic to that role), and the additional allowance awarded to the postholder of an existing substantive role for carrying out the duties of Monitoring Officer.

2.2 The table immediately below sets out GLA pay awards to GLA staff since 2011-12.

2.3 The Sponsoring Director for this decision is the Assistant Director of Financial Services as the Chief Officer and the Executive Director of Resources have a conflict of interest.

The budget for 2020/21 was built including a pay inflation factor of 2%. As previously reported, the agreement of an award below that will lead to an underspend within the available budget. The inflation provision totalled £1.3m, with the agreed increase for staff at grades 1-7 costing around £335k, indicating a saving against budget of around £965k. This calculation already includes the effect of a nil pay award for statutory officers, as the posts are graded above grade 7. Therefore there are no further financial implications arising from this proposal.

The Mayor and the Assembly, acting jointly, have the power to determine remuneration for the three statutory officers, as part of their contractual terms and conditions, in accordance with sections 72(1C), 73(1C) and 127A(3) of the GLA Act 1999 (as amended) and section 5.1 of the Statutory Officer Protocol. Their pay awards are therefore a joint decision.

The Mayor’s approval must be given via a Mayoral Decision Form. The full Assembly must decide any changes to the statutory officers’ terms and conditions (including as to remuneration).

By adopting the Statutory Officer Protocol, the Mayor and Assembly jointly agreed that, as a matter of principle, the standard terms and conditions that apply to all staff appointed by the Head of Paid Service (the “HoPS”), should normally also apply to the three statutory officers.

This Mayoral Decision Form seeks the Mayor’s confirmation that a pay award of 0% for 2020-2021 should be made to the GLA’s Chief Officer and Executive Director of Resources and an increase of 0% should be made to the allowance paid to the Monitoring Officer, as the three statutory officers.