The General Purposes Committee met to discuss and approve changes to the terms and conditions of the Red Book Repairs and Investment Trade Staff Members, aiming for greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the council's repairs team. The committee also noted the list of councillors' memberships on outside bodies, joint committees, and school governing bodies.

Red Book Agreement

The committee addressed a report regarding a collective agreement to change the terms and conditions of the Red Book Repairs and Investment Trade Staff Members. The Red Book is a handbook that includes the full, current agreements of the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Local Authority Craft & Associated Employees. The aim of the agreement is to rationalise the salaries of the staff group.

The report noted that in 2013, the council entered into a collective agreement with recognised Trade Unions which introduced a method of calculating the salaries of Red Book Repairs and Investment Trade Staff Members. Over the years, this has led to large salary increases above the JNC nationally agreed annual pay awards and above the current market rate for each job role.

The council commenced discussions with the recognised Trade Unions in October 2023 with a view to rationalising the salaries of this staff group. The new agreement is an integral part of the Councils’ Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) Repairs and Compliance Capacity, which is expected to deliver savings of £0.7m next year in 2025/26 and rising to £2m a year by 2027/28.

HAYS Consulting provided benchmarking data on the roles from several organisations, including 18 named London Boroughs. According to the report:

In summary, benchmarking comparators of the top-level salaries are set out in the table below:

London Council Greenwich DLO £63,000

South East London £52,000

South West London £47,736

North London £38,465

West London £38,000

South East London £37,549

West London £33,500

North West London £30,000

On 13 March 2025, the council and the Trade Unions reached agreements as set out in Appendix A of the report.

The new pay structure will be implemented from April 2025, and all affected staff will receive a letter to explain how it affects them.

The report states that the decision is critical in delivering MTFS savings of £0.7m next year in 2025/26, £1.4m in 2026/27 and £2m a year by 2027/28. This in turn will help to enable the HRA to meet HRA Business Plan financial targets over the long term and critically over the next three years when balances are projected to be below the recommended minimum balance.

A requirement of the collective agreement is to introduce a range of salaries for new starters. Appendix D of the report sets out the new starter salaries.

The 24/25 nationally agreed pay award will not be applied to the salary of currently employed trade operatives.

Declarations of Interest

The committee noted the list of councillors’ memberships as Council appointed representatives on outside bodies, joint committees and school governing bodies. This list included Councillor Leo Fletcher, Chair of Housing and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel, who is a Member of the Blackheath Joint Working Party¹ and the John Roan Foundation². Councillor Matt Hartley, Leader of the Opposition, is a Deputy on the Overview and Scrutiny Joint Health Committee. Councillor Averil Lekau, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member Climate Action, Sustainability and Transport, is a Deputy on the Eltham Crematorium Joint Committee³ and a Member of the London City Airport Consultative Committee⁴. Councillor Anthony Okereke, Leader of the Council, is a Deputy on the Eltham Crematorium Joint Committee, and a Member of the LGA General Assembly⁵ and the London Councils' Leader Committee⁶.