The Senior Appointments and Pay Committee are scheduled to meet to discuss the approach to pay reviews for 2026, and to review the minutes of previous meetings. The meeting will be held at The Oculus, Buckinghamshire Council in Aylesbury. Some of the meeting is scheduled to be held without press or public access.

Pay Review 2026

The committee is scheduled to discuss the pay approach and context for the 2026 pay review. They will also review trade union pay submissions.

Minutes of Previous Meetings

The committee will be asked to approve the minutes of meetings held on 13 November 2025, 21 November 2025 and 8 December 2025 as an accurate record. These minutes are contained in the Public Reports Pack.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 November 2025 record that the committee:

• Noted an update on the Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme (MARS).
• Approved the process to appoint an interim Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service.
• Agreed to hold an additional meeting on 8 December 2025 to agree the permanent Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service recruitment process.
• Noted the interim resourcing arrangements.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2025 record that the committee unanimously agreed to the interim appointment of Sarah Ashmead to the post of Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service, with a salary of £220,000. The committee also agreed to ask the Monitoring Officer¹ to undertake the Proper Officer process² and ask Full Council³ to appoint Sarah Ashmead as the interim Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service of Buckinghamshire Council.