first issue was on the inflationary rises – included for first time last time – wide range of responses including:

some still on pay scales so used that – some added to base and some as a one off

several LCAs have used pay grade framework to realign to national range – so some awards were more significant where they had been out of step. Variety of roles means comparisons are tough – maybe we should focus on one or two roles to get some useful dats

Some LCAs had to uplift to meet living wage

23/24 was the year many of us moved to setting up better base line but probably doesn’t give us robust info yet…due to some of the issues above.

CA have synced job titles on their job ads page with those in the salary survey, but are not fully integrating the data from jobs advertised. Angela ( Kerr) says diversification of funding and roles has changed so much and it is poss that Supervisor role is out of kilter with the level of responsibility held. Relational salaries for Supervisors are highly varied – for some a small bit above caseworker others a £10K difference.

Noted that we have 3 template role profiles in the library – but maybe need more. They are CEO, Advice Supervisor and Quality and Compliance Officer. Sue updated us that there is some work being done at CA on competencies. We talked about if there are some roles that we all have and focus on them for competencies – eg Adviser. Zoe shared work they are doing on noting the range of competencies that are shared within several roles. She has also been working on relational salaries for the team – where the gap between CEO role and next level down in the hierarchy is too high – moves to address this have been challenging but necessary in terms of succession planning. Guidance is to track ahead on how to make these shifts over time and gradually.

Paul ( Hardy) notes it is helpful to keep things simple and then good and robust comparisons can be made which will help us to standardise within comparable LCAs so that we are not undermining each other with the salaries we pay. Our underlying issue is that we all like to do things differently – this has led to the range of role titles.

Tal ( Michael) says we need to start at the bottom and pay the Lilving Wage and then work from there with recognition of extra responsibility held as you move up the hierarchy of the team. We need progression and development work within our team – mindful of the public service saying that people get promoted to the levelof their incompetence…

Simi ( Ryatt) has a team of 4 direct reports ( Heads of..) tried to benchmark role, looking at portfolio, line management etc and looked for similar roles across the sector but the differential between CEO and Heads of role is huge. The only way they get pay rises is in direct response to it being raised at appraisal – the issue there is how to set a process for increasing pay.

Jo O’Boyle shared their approach – Living wage is start point and CEO salary can’t be more than X times the lowest paid role and cost of living applies equally and if a role falls out of kilter then it is checked and have the option of giving a one off pay rise if they have gone over and above so not bending pay scales out of range but recognising extra endeavour on the part of individuals.

Andy shared a Harris Hill survey – click to see it and Pat shared with us an excellent template on how to describe jobs and use this to peg salaries.. Here is a note on NJC salaries that Tal shared

Sue (Theo) suggested that maybe we could focus on one role per year to get a good baseline. We thought a task and finish group could be good for this and it might make sense for Ops Directors to be involved rather than CEOs. Angela (Kerr) mentioned apprenticeships might be worth chatting about. We will pursue his further.. so watch this space….

We also talked about baking in pay rise when we are facing cuts and where projects have cost of living but core doesn’t – how do we manage that in our teams.? We may have a dedicated session to discuss ideas on this. Issue can be addressed through some savings or making post redundant or using reserves – especial problems for those with unionised teams.