Item 07 Appendix 2
West Dunbartonshire Council · 5 February 2025
Back to Corporate Services Committee — 5 February 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Assessment No 1039 Owner amenon Resource Transformation Service Budget P and T FirstName Surname Job Title Head Officer Arun Menon Business Support Manager Members Arun Menon and Victoria Rogers (Please note: the word 'policy' is used as shorthand for strategy policy function or financial decision) Policy Title PT08- Reduce pay preservation period The aim, objective, purpose and intended out come of policy The Council currently protects eligible employee’s salary under pay preservation for 12 months, subject to criteria being satisfied. Under this proposal the current level of pay preservation will be reduced to either nine months, six months, three months or indeed remove it altogether. An assessment of the level of impact such a change will have for the organisation and employees was undertaken. Data for the last 7 years* covering periods from 2018-19 until 2023-24 was analysed and this indicated that: • Option 1 – Reducing pay preservation to 9 months could prevent the risk of increased costs by approximately £11,745 p.a. • Option 2 – Reducing pay preservation to 6 months could prevent the risk of increased costs by approximately £23,490 p.a. • Option 3 – Reducing pay preservation to 3 months could prevent the risk of increased costs by approximately £35,235 p.a. • Option 4 – Removing pay preservation altogether could prevent the risk of increased costs by approximately £46,980 p.a. It is difficult to forecast the cost reduction for the Council in future years as it depends on the number of employees eligible for pay preservation. The data assessment also indicated that, in that 7 year timeframe, the breakdown of impacted employees was 67% females and 33% males. This is disproportionately more advantageous to men as the overall demographic is 71% female and 29% male so one should expect the protected numbers to mirror that. Service/Partners/Stakeholders/service users involved in the development and/or implementation of policy. Chief Officers, Strategic HR Does the proposals involve the procurement of any goods or services? No If yes please confirm that you have contacted our procurement services to discuss your requirements. No SCREENING You must indicate if there is any relevance to the four areas Duty to eliminate discrimination (E), advance equal opportunities (A) or foster good relations (F) Yes Relevance to Human Rights (HR) No Relevance to Health Impacts (H) No Appendix 2
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Relevance to Social Economic Impacts (SE) Yes Who will be affected by this policy? Based on historic data over last 7 years this policy would have a Female (67%) - Male (33%) split. However it will be hard to predict what the likely split between females and males will be going forward but can safely say it is likely to geared towards females staff groups given they are the majority within the council. Who will be/has been involved in the consultation process? Chief Officers, Strategic HR
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Please outline any particular need/barriers which equality groups may have in relation to this policy list evidence you are using to support this and whether there is any negative impact on particular groups. Specific group to consider Needs Evidence Impact Age The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty The Council's age profile confirms that the highest percentage of employees remain clustered in the age groups 50-59. Whilst changes would impact all ages of employees, given the workforce profile those impacted are likely to be older. Cross Cutting It is important to consider how elements may cross cut, It is difficult to predict what grades might be affected, and how this might cross cut with for example sex. Difficult to predict cross cutting impacts. Disability The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty The Council's disability profile confirms 1.38% of employees have declared a disability. Disabled people are more likely to have extra living costs on average than non disabled people Potential more negative impact on disabled people versus non disabled people Social & Economic Impact The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty Reduction in anticipated income for some employees may result in disposable income being reduced and having a reduced amount to spend in the economy This policy would have a financial impact on staff where their pay preservations is reduced from 12 months to either 9 months, 6 months, 3 months or remove it altogether. Sex The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty Workforce profile concludes 71% female and 29% male Based on last 7 years data this policy is disproportionately more advantageous to men as the overall demographic is 71% female and 29% male so one should expect the impacted numbers to mirror that. However it is split as 67% female and 33% male. Reduction in pay preservation would affect more men than women based on past implementation. Gender Reassign Health The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty Reduction in anticipated income for some employees may contribute towards poor health outcomes. This policy may impact heath of staff if they are adversely impacted by being put on pay preservation and rather than the current 24 months have only 6 months or 3 months. Human Rights
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Marriage & Civil Partnership Pregnancy & Maternity Race Religion and Belief Sexual Orientation
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Actions
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Policy has a negative impact on an equality group,but is still to be implemented, please provide justification for this. The council has a duty to balance the budget. Although this policy may have a negative impact on employees given the socio economic impact assessed above. Based on last 7 years data this policy is disproportionately more advantageous to men as the overall demographic is 71% female and 29% male so one should expect the impacted numbers to mirror that. Will the impact of the policy be monitored and reported on an ongoing bases? No Q7 What is you recommendation for this policy? Intoduce Please provide a meaningful summary of how you have reached the recommendation EIA 1039: This policy would have a financial impact on staff where their pay preservations is reduced from 12 months to either 9 months, 6 months, 3 months or remove it altogether. In terms of sex, the data assessment also indicated that, in that 5 year timeframe, the breakdown of impacted employees was 67% females and 33% males. This is disproportionately more advantageous to men as the current overall demographic is 71% female and 29% male so one should expect the protected numbers to mirror that. It is worthy of note that numbers may well increase over the coming years as more employees are displaced due to the challenging budgetary outlook. The assessment shows potential negative impacts also for disabled and older employees. It is difficult to forecast the cost reduction for the Council in future years as it depends on the number of employees eligible for pay preservation.