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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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Meeting |
Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee |
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Date |
26 January 2026 |
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Present |
Councillors Kilbane (Vice-Chair, in the Chair), Ayre, and Lomas (Substitute for Councillor Douglas) |
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Apologies
Officers in attendance |
Councillor Douglas
Helen Whiting – Chief Officer – HR and Support Services |
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43. Apologies for Absence (5:30pm)
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Douglas, who was substituted by Councillor Lomas.
44. Declarations of Interest (5:31pm)
At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare if they had any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests that they might have had in the business on the agenda. None were declared.
45. Exclusion of Press and Public (5:31pm)
Resolved: That if required, the press and public would be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of Annex 1 to Agenda Item 8 (Redundancy, Pensions and Exit Discretions Expenditure) on the grounds that it contained information relating to individuals and the financial affairs of particular persons. This information is classed as exempt under Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as revised by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006). Members agreed that discussion of the details of Annex 1 would not be necessary.
46. Minutes (5:32pm)
Resolved: That the minutes of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee held on 1 September 2025 be approved and then signed by the Chair as a correct record.
47. Public Participation (5:32pm)
It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at
the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
48. Workforce Profile as at Quarter 3 2025/26 (5:32pm)
The Chief Officer - HR and Support Services presented the report and noted that within the stated period there were more employees starting than leaving City of York Council (CYC), the Council had been successful in receiving funding and in recruiting on temporary contracts. The Chief Officer – HR and Support Services outlined the details contained within the report, including the Retention Payment for a grade 12 post.
In response to questions from members, the Chief Officer – HR and Support Services confirmed that:
· Retention Payments were made through business case circumstances via consultation with unions.
· Regarding equalities profiling, work was ongoing to promote and encourage employees to declare their personal sensitive data and understand what CYC do with the data. The statistics showed that there had been some improvement, and it was confirmed that there was no statutory duty to improve this or collect this information, and therefore collection could not be made mandatory.
· If hours were reduced, headcount could appear higher due to one job being shared between two postholders.
Resolved: That the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee noted the workforce profile provided in the report and annex, including the addition of retention payment details as per Annex 1 of the report.
Reason: In order to provide an overview of the workforce profile.
49. Work Plan (5:44pm)
Resolved: That members considered the work plan for the municipal year 2025-2026.
Reason: To ensure the Committee maintains a programme of work for the municipal year 2025-2026.
50. Redundancy, Pension, and Exit Discretions Expenditure (5:45pm)
The Chief Officer – HR and Support Services presented the report which outlined three flexible retirements, three redundancies of which two redundancy payments had pensions payments. None of these cases required any additional discretionary payments.
In response to questions from members, the Chief Officer – HR and Support Services confirmed that:
· Alternate roles were always sought for officers in scope of redundancy.
· Pension payments did not go directly to the person but were instead paid to the pension scheme to allow for access to the pension as normal.
Resolved: That the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee noted the expenditure and cases that had been approved.
Reason: To provide an overview of expenditure.
Cllr Kilbane, Chair
[The meeting started at 5.30 pm and finished at 5.49 pm].