Minutes
Personnel Committee Meeting Minutes
7.30pm Wednesday 27 May 2025
St Andrews Community Centre, Saxilby.
Members Present:
Cllrs Bowden, Bridge, Saunders, Shepherd, and Waller.
Absent:
Cllrs Hughes and J Willox.
In Attendance:
Lydia Hopton, Parish Clerk
There were no members of the public in attendance.
Meeting
Procedural
PC25/007 1. Agree chair of the committee
Having been proposed (Cllr Saunders) and seconded (Cllr Shepherd) it was resolved to:
Agree Cllr Waller as chair of the committee.
PC25/008 2. Agree vice-chair of the committee
Having been proposed (Cllr Saunders) and seconded (Cllr Bridge) it was resolved to:
Agree Cllr Bowden as vice-chair of the committee.
PC25/009 3. Receive apologies and accept valid reasons for absence, having been submitted to the clerk
Apologies were received from Cllr Hughes.
PC25/0010 4. Receive declarations of interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and consider granting dispensation requests, these having been submitted in writing to the proper officer before, or at the start of, the meeting
None declared. The clerk declared an interest in item 13.
PC25/011 5. Note the action log
Noted.
PC25/012 6. Approve the 29 January 2025 committee meeting notes as minutes
Having been proposed (Cllr Saunders) and seconded (Cllr Waller) it was resolved to:
Approve the 29 January 2025 committee meeting notes, with an update to include the title and Ref number “PC25/006 Make recommendations to full council regarding staff contracts”
PC25/013 7. Review of policies that relate to staff employment including (ToR3.1)
a. Terms of Reference
It was suggested to update para 3.5 to “personnel” committee chair.
It was requested for the appraisal form templates to be shared.
b. Staff Handbook (including Disciplinary & Grievance, sickness absence, and equal opportunities policies)
Deferred – arrange meeting of personnel committee members to review and bring back to committee for review.
c. Bullying & Harassment Policy and share feedback on templates
Deferred.
Review and recommend to full council the:
PC25/014 8. Bereavement leave policy
It was agreed to make changes to the draft policy and bring back to committee:
• Delete “colleague”;
• Add - We recognise that employees may experience bereavement if they are going through the loss of someone other than those set out above “or a family pet”
• Add “A paid day of annual leave for a funeral”
• Add “A paid day of annual leave for the day bereaved/found out you had become bereaved”
PC25/015 9. Parental bereavement leave policy
Having been proposed (Cllr Bridge) and seconded (Cllr Shepherd) it was resolved to:
Recommend to full council the parental bereavement leave policy.
PC25/016 10. Agree indictors (KPIs) and draft staff survey to monitor the effectiveness of the wellbeing policy (FC Action – Ref FC24/184 8.)
Having been proposed (Cllr Waller) and seconded (Cllr Bowden) it was resolved to:
Agree indictors (KPIs) and the draft staff survey to monitor the effectiveness of the wellbeing policy with changes to:
- Monitor patterns of sickness to a quarterly rather than six monthly review
- For full council to consider developing a councillor well-being survey
- Change staff survey to a 1-4 scale from 1-5 proposed.
PC25/017 11. Provide feedback on the prevention of sexual harassment risk assessment
Feedback was provided on the risk assessment to add:
- People at risk - Add workers, “councillors, and volunteers”
- Risks identified of third party sexual harassment “such as”
- “Councillors”
- Maintain CCTV “according to policy”
The feedback was noted.
PC25/018 12. Closed Session: Committee to resolve to go into closed session in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960 for the following item(s) on the grounds that publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.
Having been proposed (Cllr Saunders) and seconded (Cllr Shepherd) it was resolved to:
Go into closed session in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960.
PC25/019 13. Ratify Clerk and Assistant Clerks annual leave retrospectively at the subsequent personnel committee meeting (ToR3.7)
Having been proposed (Cllr Saunders) and seconded (Cllr Bowden) it was resolved to:
Ratify the Clerk and Assistant Clerks annual leave.
PC25/020 14. Agree two cllrs to undertake clerk’s appraisal and review the assistant clerk’s annual appraisal (ToR)
Having been proposed (Cllr Saunders) and seconded (Cllr Bridge) it was resolved:
With an amendment, for the chair of personnel to undertake clerk’s appraisal and review the assistant clerk’s appraisal.
PC25/021 15. Review staff timesheet data and agree a formal purpose for reviewing, and recommend to full council an update to the committee’s ToR accordingly
Defer, bring back.
PC25/022 16. To note staff job descriptions and person specifications and agree recommendations
It was agreed for the clerk to review two job specifications and descriptions and share with personnel committee.
Communication and working practices
PC25/023 17. To review and recommend to full council for approval, pay awards, pay scales and other conditions of service (ToR3.8)
Recommendations were agreed to be made to Full Council.
The meeting closed at 21:50pm.
Please be advised that these are notes of the meeting taken by the assistant/clerk and cannot in any way be regarded as the official minutes of council proceedings until they are approved and signed at the next meeting.