Issue - meetings

The Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Resources presented a report on the subject of payment of the living wage to staff employed by Council contractors. 

The following key points were discussed during consideration of this item:

·                Local authorities, like other organisations, had a statutory duty to pay at least the minimum wage to staff, though all staff employed by Bromsgrove District Council received at least the living wage as a minimum.

·                There was no legal obligation for any organisation to pay the living wage to staff.

·                The Council could request as part of the tendering process that companies pay staff the living wage for completing contracted work. 

·                There was also the potential for the Council to offer a dual tendering deal process, whereby one price could be quoted involving payment of the living wage and another price quoted where the living wage would not necessarily be paid.

·                However, in both cases payments of the living wage would be difficult to monitor.  Staff would need to give permission for their personal details to be shared with the Council; it was possible that not all staff would be willing to take this action. 

·                There was also a risk that a minority of companies would place pressure on staff to confirm that they were paid the living wage even if this was not the case.

The Board concurred that from a moral and ethical perspective it was supportive of paying of the living wage to staff employed by Council contractors and it suggested that this point should be formally endorsed by the whole Council.   In respect of becoming accredited under the Living Wage Campaign, the Board was advised that the definition of contractors within The Living Wage Guide for Employers contained a number of subtle distinctions and nuances that could have further implications for the subject.  Members therefore agreed that further information/clarification on this particular area should be obtained before the Board proposed any recommendations on the subject.

RESOLVED that the Board be provided with further information, including from a legal perspective, in respect of different contractual arrangements and the implications for payment of the living wage to contractors’ staff.