Nick Orton presented a report outlining options for the terms and conditions for employees of BCPP Limited, including a proposal on the type of pension provision that should be offered to new recruits to the company.

The Committee acknowledged that in order to ensure BCPP Limited was able to recruit and retain the skilled staff it required to function effectively, it should offer staff starting a new contract with the company the choice between access to the LGPS or access to a defined contribution pension scheme and higher take-home pay. This should be structured to ensure the overall cost to the company was equivalent under either option. Councillor McMurdo confirmed that this work was being closely monitored by workforce representatives and as such it was vital that TUPE arrangements were clearly communicated to affected staff and that options available to any member of staff involved in such a process, for example relocation, be properly explored such that the right calibre of individual was encouraged to consider working with BCPP Ltd. Councillor Ellis thanked the Project Team for their time in visiting colleagues in South Yorkshire to outline the work which was taking place in relation to this matter.

The Committee acknowledged the requirement to maintain a certain degree of flexibility in establishing terms of conditions, so as to provide the future executive team with options to enable them to attract and retain the right candidates for positions within the BCPP Ltd.

It was acknowledged that work was progressing as required in regard to TUPE transfer for staff from the internally managed funds.

RESOLVED

Members:-

1.     agreed to progress the proposal that BCPP Limited should participate in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) as an ‘open’ admission body, and should offer new employees (as well as employees transferring from the internally managed Funds) access to the LGPS, with the exception of senior staff. Final approval would be sought from the shareholders once all issues were resolved. Senior staff included all executive directors and any staff paid at more than a specified level (initially set at £120,000 a year whole-time equivalent).

2.     agreed that in order to provide a flexible offering that was attractive to a range of recruits across the public and private sector, employees should also be offered the alternative of employer contributions to a defined contribution pension scheme and additional salary instead of participation in the LGPS. This was on the proviso that the overall cost of employment was not increased as a result of this flexibility.

3.     agreed that a package of other terms and conditions should be provided for new employees to BCPP Limited which were broadly similar to those typically provided within local government. Suitable external advice would be sought when determining the detail of the terms and conditions and the overall value of the remuneration packages to ensure they were appropriate and competitive.

4.     Agreed the project team should draft and circulate an LGPS guarantee that all Authorities would be required to provide, working on the general principle that any liabilities at the point of transfer would remain the responsibility of the original Fund, but liabilities built up going forwards would be underwritten by all partner Funds in an equitable manner.