Personnel Committee - Thursday 29 January 2026, 2:00pm - Folkestone & Hythe webcasting

Personnel Committee
Thursday, 29th January 2026 at 2:00pm 

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  1. Cllr Connor McConville
  2. Mr Jake Hamilton
  3. Cllr Connor McConville
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  1. Cllr Nicola Keen
  2. Cllr Connor McConville
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  1. Ms Andrina Smith
  2. Cllr Connor McConville
  3. Cllr Nicola Keen
  4. Cllr Connor McConville
  5. Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee
  6. Ms Andrina Smith
  7. Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee
  8. Cllr Elaine Martin
  9. Cllr Connor McConville
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  1. Webcast Finished

Cllr Connor McConville - 0:00:04
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this meeting of the personnel committee.
This meeting will be webcast live to the internet.
For those of you who do not wish to be recorded or filmed, you will need to leave the chamber.
For members, officers and others speaking at the meeting, it is important that the microphones
are used so viewers on the webcast and others in the room may hear you.
But anyone with a mobile phone, please switch it to silent as they can be distracting and
I would like to remind members that although we have strong opinions on matters under consideration,
it is important to treat members, officers and public speakers with respect.
Afternoon, everyone.

1 Apologies for Absence

I'll start with item number one.
Apologies for absence, please.
Thank you, Chair.
Mr Jake Hamilton - 0:00:44
We have apologies from Councillor Holgate.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:00:48
And declarations.

2 Declarations of Interest

Do any members have anything they wish to declare regarding the agenda?
Joaquin?
Yeah.
Cllr Nicola Keen - 0:00:54
As well as being a Councillor, I'm Assistant Branch Secretary of Kent Branch of Unison.
Thank you for that.
Anyone else?
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:01:02
No?
Okay.

3 Minutes

Item number three, the minutes.
To consider the minutes of the meeting held on the 17th of July.
Are we happy to accept those as a correct record?
Okay.
All agreed?
Lovely.
I'll just keep going.
Sign those.

4 Annual Pay Policy Statement 2026/27

And item number four, our annual pay policy statement,
which comes to this committee every year.
The statement is reasonably unchanged,
except for some dates and figures.
The track changes are attached,
so hopefully you've had a chance to go through those.
And Trina, is there anything you wanna say?
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:01:49
Well, you just stole my thunder, to be honest, Chair.
I was going to say exactly that.
It's the annual report.
You've seen it for the last couple of years.
It started in 2012.
It needs to go to Council for approval by April.
The format is as you've seen it for the last couple of years.
Track changes, as the Chair has just said, is attached to Appendix B.
And literally the changes are dates and dates in terms of pay.
So happy to take any questions.
It's as you've seen previously.
Not a question, just the fact that I read it all through,
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:02:20
then I realised the tracking was behind it.
So maybe the tracking should have been in front of it.
Just thank you, Adam.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:02:36
Are we happy to accept the paid quality statement then?
Proposed, Councillor Martin, seconded by Councillor Oingsbee.

5 Four Day Working in Local Government

and all in favour? Everyone. Okay. Item number five is a report on the four -day working week
in local government. Andarina, say a few words.
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:02:59
Thank you. So we brought this report through to members due to a letter that came in to
the Council from the Secretary of State back in December 2025. And the report is intended
to provide members with some assurance to the way that we work and that we don't have
staff working, for example, four days a week but receiving five days pay, which is what's
being alluded to in that letter from the Secretary of State. It's very clear that that's where
he's aiming that and we know there's councils that have adopted that approach and I've referenced
that within the report. And they do have staff that say work 29 hours but get 37 hours of
Here at Folkestone, we do have staff who, following a request for flexible working and
the appropriate approval processes, may only work four days or say four and a half days
a week or a nine day fortnight, but the key difference is that they're working their full
time 37 hours in that reduced time.
And to give you an example, we have got nine staff working a four day week, we've got three
on four and a half days, and we've got eight staff currently who do a nine -day fortnight.
But any request that comes through, whereas normally it's signed off pretty much at the
local level with the service area managers and so on, in discussion with us, anything that's
for a condensed working week such as this does have to go through for director approval, because
there's obvious knock -ons in terms of, instead of working, say, nine to five, someone's doing
eight till six every day, and it's the knock -on kind of health and wellbeing concerns that we
to look at alongside that too.
So this is really just to give you confidence
that we're not doing what's in that letter
from the Secretary of State.
We're happy to take questions.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:04:43
Do members have anything they wish to comment or add?
Councillor King.
Cllr Nicola Keen - 0:04:46
Well, it does worry me that he doesn't understand how local
government work because we've always worked flexi.
We've had to because there were times when I think maybe we ought
to give him a breakdown on how flexi works because I don't work
already this week. So I think maybe he needs to understand that local government hasn't
got hundreds of people sitting around doing nothing, because it worries me greatly that
he doesn't see how that works. It's nearly every council I know where people are working
flexibly. Some do the nine day fortnight, some day five into four. But he does need
to know that, and maybe needs to know the kind of hours that our staff here, and in
other local authorities do over and above?
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:05:36
Well, that was going to be something I was going to ask.
As it's a letter to our council, are we minded to write a reply?
I'm happy to do so in coordination with Jim, if that's something we've...
Just outlining our good practise.
Councillor Laiensby.
I'm just going to ask about monitoring.
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:06:01
I assume the teams or the chief of each team would be monitoring that situation.
You know that because obviously it might have an effect on somebody you just said really,
sitting next door to them.
One does eight till six and the other one does nine till five.
And I just wonder whether there is any kind of discussion on that or monitoring.
I think you're right, there is monitoring. Quite often when we go down to looking at
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:06:31
a condensed week, as with many other flexible working requests to reduce hours, quite often
it can be on a trial period to start with. That's normally about six months and it's
reviewed as you go through. And yes, it's encouraged through one -to -ones, through performance
reviews, that sort of thing, to make sure that that working arrangement is okay. And
That doesn't mean an automatic right, that it will be agreed.
And there are lots of discussions, and there are ones that we do have to turn down or find alternative ways of working.
So there's always that kind of mindfulness to what's happening. So absolutely.
Just say thank you. And it's good. I mean, I'm not against flexible working.
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:07:15
I'm in favour of flexible working, but it just needs to be properly monitored and considered.
And from what you said, it certainly is, so thank you.
Council Member.
Cllr Elaine Martin - 0:07:35
Yeah, I think that, like Councillor Keene, I was a bit surprised that he didn't understand how councils work.
Particularly, as I understand it, a lot of public bodies work in the same way.
My niece works for a public body that isn't a local council, and she does it nine -day, nine -day, fortnight.
So I was a bit surprised about that, I've got to say.
Also, I'll second Councillor King's request for a letter to be sent to say how we work.
Thank you.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:08:04
If there's nothing else, we're just asked to receive a note of the report.
Are we happy to do so?
OK, agreed.
Proposed.
Councillor Olinsby?
Seconded by Councillor King.
There we go.
Well, just take it in turns.

6 Exclusion of the Public

That was the only, so they were the formal items
and we have one more item to discuss,
but after the exclusion of the public,
so to exclude the public for the following item
of business on the grounds that it's likely
to disclose exempt information as defined
in paragraph four of part one of schedule 12a
of the Local Government Act 1972.
Are we happy to go into a closed session to continue the discussion proposed by
Councillor Loyn's be seconded by Councillor Keene. All in favour?
Okay, we can