27 July 2026 – Minutes (draft)

THAME TOWN COUNCIL

Minutes of the Personnel Committee Meeting held on 27 July 2026 at 10am in the Meeting Room, Thame Town Hall.

Present:

Town Mayor, Cllr A Gilbert
Deputy Town Mayor, Cllr A Wainwright
Chair of Corporate Governance, Cllr M Dyer
Chair of Community Services, Cllr P Cowell
Chair of Environment & Assets Committee, Cllr C Jones
Chair of Planning Committee, M Baines

Officer:

M Sturdy (Town Clerk)
K Slater (Responsible Financial Officer / Corporate Services Manager)

1             Apologies for Absence

There were no apologies for absence.

2             Declarations of Interest and Dispensations

There were no declarations of interest or dispensations.

3             Public Participation and Public Questions

There were no applications to address the Committee.
There were no questions put to the Committee.

4             Minutes

The Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 12 January 2026 were confirmed as a correct record, and were signed by the Chair.

5             Exclusion of the Public

RESOLVED: That under Section 1, Paragraph 2 of The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business because publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.

The Clerk proposed that the order of business be considered, A motion was put forward to move item 8 to the end of the meeting to allow K Slater to remain for the remaining agenda items.

RESOLVED that:

i. item 8 be moved to the last item on the agenda

6             Staff Pensions (LGPS) Local Government Pension Scheme

The Responsible Finance Officer / Corporate Services Manager (RFO/CSM) gave a verbal report of how the Local Government Pension Scheme works and what impact it does and could have on Thame Town Council Funds.

The report included:

• reference to the retirement age which is due to change from 55 – 75 to 57 – 75 (for those in the scheme)
• 75% of TTC staff are over 50. 60% of the 75% are over 55.
• there are staff who will be retiring within the next few years, the committee discussed the importance of succession planning.
• staff pay between 5.5 and 8.5 percent of their salary to the scheme.
• the 19.9% employer costs go directly to LGPS to manage the scheme and do not go to individual staff.
• examples of how pensions are calculated was given along with other options and benefits

In some scenarios the Council may be liable for bulk paying pension contributions if a member of staff leaves ahead of their retirement age. The committee discussed that in these scenarios there is no budget to cover these costs. The committee agreed to put a proposal to the Budget Working Group that there should not be a fund held for this but that the Budget Working Group should be aware and log this risk. The committee agreed that should this risk be realised that other funds – such as non-ringfenced Ear Marked Reserves could be used (borrowed) with a plan to repay. This would reduce the likelihood of any impact on the precept.

RESOLVED to:

i. recommend to the Budget Working Group that they record as a financial risk the potential need for lump sum payments if a member of staff retires early under qualifying circumstances.

ii. recommend that in the event of (i) the general reserves at that time and / or available reserves are used rather than looking to increase the precept.

7             Councillor Training Matrix

The Committee were shown a draft training matrix and discussed how this should be developed ahead of next year’s elections. The committee requested that a personalised check sheet be developed to accompany the matrix to record what training has been completed, an On-boarding tool for councillors.

The Clerk confirmed that the process to develop the matrix was underway and would be ready for this committee to review at the September meeting. This would include which courses are recommended and which could potentially be mandatory, such as training to chair a meeting. The frequency of training was also requested to be included.

The Clerk requested that Councillors provide feedback on the training they had received as experiences were varied and the council should aspire to ensure consistent training.

The committee requested that the matrix should be titled Councillor Professional Development.

K Slater left the meeting ahead of this item which was taken last – a 5-minute recess was taken by the committee.

8             Staffing Matters

The Clerk gave an overview of staffing matters including reviewing training needs and the creation of a training matrix to identify mandatory and statutory training. Details of recent training include Mental Health first aid and Training on Rialtas – the finance system.

The need for additional playground inspection training for the maintenance team and plans for further leadership training for member of the leadership team was discussed. It was noted that there will be a continuation of more informal in-house training in processes and policy.

The Clerk and committee discussed and agreed on the need to maintain and build on the positive health and safety culture.

The committee reviewed the level of sickness which has reduced in recent years and confirmed the support was given where required.

Staff resources were discussed now and for the future, with succession planning being key due to the average age of Council Staff. A review to establish skills gaps and potential for the council taking on devolved services will be carried out.

The Clerk advised that additional hours (within the budget) would be needed to increase administration hours within the team.

Staff annual appraisals are beginning and will be completed in time for the September committee meeting.

It was noted that there is still no confirmation of the cost-of-living % for 2026/27.

RESOLVED to note the report:

9             Council Staffing Levels

The RFO talked through the report – Cllrs asked clarification on the workings of the FTE and the RFO confirmed the information would be clarified before the report is taken to a future full council meeting.

10          Council Policies

The policy review was carried forward to the next Corporate Governance Committee Meeting as it had not been circulated ahead of the meeting.

The meeting concluded at 12:08pm .

Signed …………………………                  Date: 28 September 2026

Chair