Moving some services and staff to a trading arm of Lichfield District Council can create greater flexibility, the local authority’s leader has said.
The Lichfield West Midlands Traded Service (LWMTS) has already taken on the contracts of staff associated with leisure facilities, with HR functions soon expected to switch over too.
But Labour’s Cllr Dave Robertson raised concerned over the impact on staff of any such move at a recent meeting of the council. He said:
“One of the things we are able to do is amend contracts of employees on a disciplinary and grievance policy through collective agreement because we have trade union agreement in place – the local authority trading company doesn’t have that method of updating and making common sense changes.
“The trading company should be recognising a trade union so we can take advantage of economies of scale and make common sense changes through collective agreement.
Cllr Dave Robertson, Lichfield District Council
Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of the council, said staff moving to LWMTS would have their current entitlements honoured.
“The flexibility of the trading company allows us to be more fleet of foot and give different terms to staff.
“It also allows us to move away from national pay scales so we can pay people slightly more and contribute less to pension where people might be at a different point in their career where they’re more interested in receiving money as salary rather than as a pension.
“That is a choice to give flexibility both to staff and to our organisation to compete with the private sector.
“There is not a local authority that isn’t struggling with recruitment and retention of staff. We’ve said we’re going to do things differently and we are.
“Anyone who moves to LWMTS from the council will have theirterms and conditions honoured in perpetuity. But if someone joins and signs up to different terms and conditions then we should allow them to do that.”
Cllr Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council
Cllr Pullen said the introduction of LWMTS was designed to ensure the best services could be delivered to local residents.
“Our people are our greatest asset. We’ve done lots to improve culture here and benefits our employees are entitled to, including being one of the first local authorities in the country to introduce private medical care to ensure they can be looked after no matter what challenges or issues they may face regards to mental or physical health.
“We will alsways look for the most appropriate organisation to deliver services for our residents. If that can be through LWMTS for a better, cheaper way then we should look to do that – but if the council’s best placed to deliver that service then we’ll retain it within the council.
“We should always look at what is best value for residents. Not just cheapest, but what genuinely delivers best value while also protecting our employees.
“We will protect any rights they’ve transferred when they transfer over.”
Cllr Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council
