This report sets out the immediate and longer-term options available to address recruitment and retention challenges within the Building Control Surveyor (BCS) workforce at South Thames Gateway Building Control Partnership (STG). It also provides clarity on the implications of adjusting the current Skills Shortage Allowance (SSA) and outlines considerations regarding pension participation and take-home pay.
Minutes:
Discussion:
The Director, South Thames Gateway Building Control Partnership introduced the report. She highlighted the difficulties that the Partnership faced in recruiting and retaining staff, whilst regulatory changes had significantly increased the burden of supervision on staff.
The Partnership had lost a number of staff in the last year including management, and as reported previously, staff turnover stood at 37.5%. One month into the financial year a further surveyor had left and another would leave the Partnership shortly. The Director explained that a recruitment campaign for a manager post had been unsuccessful. The principal causes of the recruitment and retention issues were due to current workload and significantly higher salary available in the private sector.
The last remaining manager in the partnership had indicated that they will relocate to another part of the country. At this stage, the Partnership was expected to not have any management staff in post and temporary consultants would be required to undertake the statutory requirements of the Partnership.
The Director acknowledged that the staffing budget was based upon the Business Plan, however, the core issue in recruitment and retention of competition from the private sector had become urgent, with the private sector being able to offer salaries at a significantly higher level than in the public sector. The Joint Committee was asked to support the payment of a skills shortage allowance within the Medway Council pay structure using Partnership reserves.
The Committee discussed the following issues.
Skills Shortage Allowance – the Committee welcomed the report, further information was requested why the Skills Shortage Allowance was limited to Medway Council pay structure. The Democratic Services Officer stated that the Memorandum of Agreement provided that Medway Council acted as the host Council for the purposes of employing staff. As a consequence, Partnership staff were employed under Medway terms and conditions.
The Committee agreed the payment of a skills shortage allowance. It was agreed that this allowance would be backdated to the beginning of the financial year if possible. The Partnership Director undertook to take this forward with Medway Council HR Services.
Review of Pay Structure – the Joint Committee also welcomed the proposed review of the pay structure for the Partnership, it was asked whether the review could be completed by the next ordinary meeting of the Joint Committee in June 2026. The Director stated that she was working closely colleagues in HR and undertook to present the report to the Committee in June. It was requested that the report include an outline of the statutory services that the Partnership was required to complete.
Supervision – in response to a question how the supervision requirements would be undertaken following the resignation of managers and the unsuccessful recruitment campaign, the Partnership Director stated that the Partnership could choose to not undertake some property services work, however, this was a significant income generator. All other work was statutory based, so consultants would need to be contracted in the short term.
Local Government Re-organisation (LGR) – the Joint Committee discussed whether a further report should be provided in in the autumn to consider proposals for the Partnership in response to LGR, including the potential for a Kent wide Partnership. The Democratic Services Officer undertook to request advice from the Assistant Director of Legal Services and Governance in relation to the Joint Committee’s powers to make decisions ahead of LGR.
Recruitment – it was asked if the Partnership was able to target registered building surveyors effectively in recruitment, including those who had previously been registered building inspectors but had now retired. The Partnership Director stated that recruitment identification was often undertaken by agencies. However, the Partnership sought to take advantage of opportunities to recruit.
As it was the last meeting of the municipal year, and his last as Chairperson, the Chairperson thanked Members and Officers for their hard work during the year.
Decision:
a) The Joint Committee supported an immediate Skills Shortage Allowance of £5,000 for those employees on a South Thames Gateway Partnership contract to be backdated to 1 April 2026 to be funded from Partnership reserves subject to agreement by the four local authorities.
b) The Joint Committee requested the development of a bespoke South Thames Gateway Building Control Partnership pay structure, recognising that this was a medium-term project requiring job evaluation, equal pay assurance, modelling and consultation in June 2026.
c) The Joint Committee requested a further report for autumn 2026, to consider potential options for the future of the Partnership as part of LGR and requested further advice from the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance as to the scope of decision making prior to LGR taking place.
Supporting documents: