Issue - meetings

To receive and consider report 106/09 of the Head of HR, IT and Customer Services (attached).

(Time: 3.14pm to 3.16pm)

The Executive received and considered report 106/09 of the Head of HR, IT, and Customer Services.  The report reviewed the operation of the payroll service.  It was currently run by South Oxfordshire District Council on behalf of this council but the service manager did not believe that it was possible to continue running the service this way due to the high cost to that council and he had recommended to South Oxfordshire that it ceased to provide the current service.  The report recommended a change from a client-contractor basis to a shared service, managed in a similar way to other finance services such as Accountancy, Internal Audit, Fraud, and the Revenues and Benefits client teams.  It was proposed that the payroll service should be managed jointly with South Oxfordshire and should continue to be part of the Ridgeway Shared Services Partnership, and monitored by the partnership’s strategic board. 

The portfolio holder for HR, IT, and customer services recommended the changes proposed to the service, believing that these would provide greater service resilience.  Executive concurred with the recommendations, believing that the current service could not continue to be managed in the same way due to its high cost.  The Executive accepted that longer term solution needed to be found over the next year, to manage the service on a more cost effective basis. 

RESOLVED

(a)               that the basis of the payroll administration service be changed to that of a shared service, subject to South Oxfordshire District Council being in agreement;

(b)               that the payroll administration service continues to be part of the Ridgeway Shared Service Partnership;

(c)               that the authority to agree the date of any such change be delegated to the Strategic Director and Chief Finance Officer; and

(d)               that authority be delegated to the Legal Services Manager to vary the existing agreement between South Oxfordshire District Council and the Vale to incorporate the new arrangements for the payroll service.