Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Sally Renshaw and Chris McKinney (UNISON).

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to be considered.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered

c)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 7^th December 2023.

Moved by Councillor Vicky Wapplington and seconded by Councillor Rowan Clarke

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Union/Employee Consultation Committee meeting held on 7th December 2023 be accepted as a true and correct record.

The HR Business Partner presented the report into Sickness Absence – Quarter 3.

Figure 1 of the report showed a summary of the sickness absence levels within BDC for the months October – December 2023.  The HR Business Partner noted the report presented background data, the key trends and what actions the Council were taking.

Attached to the report was a set of appendices and details on the proportions of long-term and short-term absences.

Absence for the Senior Managers Group was shown as 50% of the total absence for Joint Senior Managers, as this was split with Bolsover/NE Derbyshire District Councils.  For other employees the absences included were for the employing authority only.

The HR Business Partner highlighted that the average number of days lost per employee for Quarter 3 was 1.89 days, which was a reduction from previous data.  The 2023/24 projected outturn figure for the average number of days lost per employee was 8.72 days.  This would be confirmed when the Quarter 4 data was available.

It was also highlighted that in 4 Council Services, there had been no recorded sickness in Quarter 3 and a further 6 Services experienced less than 1 day per FTE employee.

However, Stress/Depression remained in the top three reasons for absence since 2019/20.

There had been 8 cases of absence due to Stress/Depression during Quarter 3, two of which were work related, and 6 were none work related.

Covid-19 had accounted for 64 days lost due to sickness, in comparison to 18 days lost in Quarter 2.

There had been 11 long-term sickness cases in this quarter, 8 had been due to physical health ailments and 6 had been related to Stress/Depression (one of which was work related).  Appropriate support and assistance were being provided to facilitate support for those who had returned to work and those planning to do so.  3 had now returned to work, 8 remained absent (1 of which, the Council was pursuing the Ill Health Retirement route) and 1 had retired on Ill Health Grounds.

The HR Business Partner referred the Committee to the actions the Council had/were taking, which was set out in the report.  Managers had support from the HR Advisor and were issued monthly sickness absence information.  Managers were also able to access sickness information on their teams on a daily basis via HR21 Self Service.

At 10:07 hours, Councillor Cathy Jeffery entered the meeting.

Steps the Council had taken to support employees included:

·       Mental Health awareness sessions were now available ‘on demand’ for all employees via Eric and had previously been delivered across the Council as part of the Council’s quarterly corporate training programme.

·       Awareness training explained that colleagues and managers were not specialists in mental health and their role was to listen to employees and signpost them to the appropriate support.

·       Mental Health awareness initiatives and possible support was continually publicised via Eric and the weekly bulletin.  Recent examples of which included:

o   the Mental Health Map, which features all the pathways  ...  view the full minutes text for item UECC5-23/24

The Vice-Chair presented their update report and highlighted the two new branch stewards recently granted placement.

The Vice-Chair stated that UNISON wanted to thank the Council and the Committee in supporting the provision of a full-time release of a UNISON Convenor on facility time for a further 12-month period.

From the report, the Vice-Chair noted lots of work had been undertaken on improving Job Evaluation timescales across the Council and Dragonfly.  The full-time role had allowed the volume of evaluations to be managed and processed in a timely manner.

For the next 12 months, the promotion of the UNISON Learning Charter would take place, which would include surveys to all employees at the Council to encourage training to up-skill them in their current job roles.

A promotion with the HR and Payroll Team on health and wellbeing events would also take place to boost staff morale and help with the identified Stress/Depression statistics.

It was still unclear how the East Midlands County Combined Authority would work, so the Convenor would learn about the future role and improve the visibility of the service to the newly elected Mayor.

The Vice-Chair then wished to put on record that UNISON wanted to say thank you to the Council’s Chief Executive and the Senior Leadership Team for their continued support and agreeing to continue the position of the full-time UNISON Convenor for a further 12 months.  The Vice-Chair stated that she was looking forward to working closely with Members and employees on various topics throughout the next 12 months.

The Vice-Chair also wanted to express how grateful the unions were that the Council involved both unions in all decisions that involved its employees.

The Strategic Director of Services gave their thanks to the HR Business Partner, UNISON, UNITE, and reflected on the achievements made and recent awards for the digital transformation.

The Chair also expressed their thanks to the Vice-Chair and the HR Business Partner, and the good work being undertaken and to follow.  The Chair explained that they had been a union member for many years, and while they had never needed to call on the assistance, they had been glad of the available support and that they were so happy there was union representation onsite at the Council.

Moved by Councillor Mary Dooley and seconded by Councillor Rowan Clarke

RESOLVED that the report be noted.