Agenda and draft minutes

To receive and note apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Douglas, who was substituted by Councillor Lomas.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

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.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following:

Annex 1 to Agenda Item 8, Redundancy, Pension, and Exit

Discretions Expenditure, on the grounds that it contains

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).

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.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Staffing Matters & Urgency Committee held on 1 September 2025.

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.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the committee.

Please note that our registration deadlines are set as 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings. The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5:00pm on Thursday, 22 January 2026.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact Democratic Services. Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The meeting can be viewed live and on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

During coronavirus, we made some changes to how we ran council meetings, including facilitating remote participation by public speakers. See our updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at

the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report provides members with the workforce profile, covering the period of 1 October to 31 December 2025.

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.

To consider the Committee’s draft work plan for the municipal year 2025-2026.

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.

This report advises members of the expenditure associated with redundancy, pension or exit discretions paid in accordance with council policy to employees below Chief Officer.

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.