Agenda item

The draft Minutes from the meeting held on 26^th September 2019 are attached in relation to the above item as an aide memoire for Committee and not for approval

At its meeting held on 26^th September 2019, UECC had considered the revised Mileage and Related Travel Expenses Policy and the following amendments had been recommended;

·         paragraph 2 of Part 10 shall clearly apply to the first bullet point in Part 3 of the policy;

·         wording in the 5th bullet point of Part 1 of the policy as highlighted in bold below;

Employees must provide the following details sufficient and reasonable detail on a mileage claim form

·         that the revised Mileage and Related Travel Expenses Policy be rolled out after the briefing sessions had taken place.

·         a review on how the policy was working be carried out in 6 months’ time.

On being put to the vote, a Unison representative voted against the recommendation and as the Chair of UECC (Unison) did not cast a vote, the UNION side had REJECTED the recommendation.

The Governance Officer referred Committee to the following paragraph in the Terms of Reference for UECC, “recommendations shall be reached only by a majority of each of the two sides voting separately”, therefore, as Unison had rejected the recommendation at the last meeting, the policy was presented to this meeting unchanged. 

The Human Resources and OD Manager advised that she had drafted a revised policy that took account of the points raised in the drafted minutes from the September meeting. She also confirmed that the approach taken to the working definition of ‘normal place of work’ was not required to comply with HMRC rules but reflected an interpretation based on the wording within the Council’s contract of employment.

After further consideration of the policy and given the outstanding issues, the following was agreed;

·         The Human Resources and OD Manager to send a revised draft of the policy to the union representatives that incorporated the following amendments:

o   paragraph 2 of Part 10 shall clearly apply to the first bullet point in Part 3 of the policy;

o   wording in the 5th bullet point of Part 1 of the policy as highlighted in bold below;

Employees must provide the following details sufficient and reasonable detail on a mileage claim form

o   additional wording to the policy to clarify what constituted ‘a normal place of work’

·         Union representatives to respond to this and provide the Human Resources and OD Manager with their outstanding issues,

·         A special meeting of UECC be arranged in early 2020 to consider the further revised policy.

The Governance Officer reminded Committee that any agreements made between management and the unions, outside of the Committee meeting, for example, in a pre-meeting, could not be implemented until they were agreed formally in the Committee meeting itself.

Moved by Chris McKinney (Unison) and seconded by Councillor Mary Dooley

RESOLVED that (1) the Human Resources and OD Manager send a revised draft of the policy to the union representatives that incorporated the following changes:

a)    paragraph 2 of Part 10 shall clearly apply to the first bullet point in Part 3 of the policy;

b)    wording in the 5th bullet point of Part 1 of the policy as highlighted in bold below;

Employees must provide the following details sufficient and reasonable detail on a mileage claim form

c)    additional wording be added to the policy to clarify what constituted ‘a normal place of work’

(2)  Union representatives to respond to this and provide the Human Resources and OD Manager with a list of their outstanding issues,

(3)  a special meeting of UECC be arranged in early 2020 to consider the further revised policy.

(Human Resources and OD Manager/Governance Manager)