Decision details

The Council is responding to the Covid-19 major incident and therefore needs to make urgent decisions to ensure that residents are protected. Urgent decisions taken at the above named meeting are listed below with reasons.

It was AGREED that:

1. Carry Forward and Payment of Annual Leave

• All staff are encouraged wherever operationally possible to take their statutory minimum 20 days plus 8 days Bank Holidays during 20/21.  If staff are unable to take leave, due to current circumstances and in line with Government guidance, a maximum of four weeks may be carried over into the next two years.
• Should it be necessary an option remains to offer payment for untaken annual leave at a later stage should the need arise.
• Any annual leave which was previously purchased under the Council’s salary sacrifice scheme for 2020/2021 and cannot now be taken, may be refunded at the request of the employee.
• Staff who are currently self-isolating will have the option to cancel their annual leave

2. Re-instate enhanced rates of pay for unsocial and weekend hours working which were previously removed under the 2016 reward strategy and now only remain as legacy payments for non-schools employees who were employed before 2016.

• Enhanced rates of pay for unsocial and weekend working is extended to all Surrey Pay employees (excluding those on the Leadership pay model ie PS15 and above).  
• The current premium payments for alternating shift working is maintained and extended to all Surrey Pay employees (excluding those on the Leadership pay model).

Reasons for Decision:

1. Changes to the annual leave policy were made because employees may have to cancel planned annual leave during the current situation because travel is no longer possible, under government guidance. Some employees may have been asked to support the council, in the hope that they will be able to take leave in the latter part of the year. In some cases it may be that annual leave cannot be granted later in the year because of operational requirements.
2. In order to maintain the business continuity of key services during Covid 19, assuming an increase in the sickness rates of staff and requirement to stand up services for residents at short notice, SCC may required staff to work different working patterns, in order to meet demand 
3. As part of the 2016 reward strategy review the council introduced a seven-day contract for new employees. This meant that several payments were removed for new starters and most staff are no longer entitled to allowances or enhancements for working evenings, nights, weekends of bank holidays. Premium payments exist within Surrey Pay as a legacy payment and are only payable to employees appointed in non-schools before 1^st July 2016. In order to support the Council’s response to Covid 19, these legacy payments will need to be reinstated for all staff (excluding those on the Leadership pay model – PS15 and above)