New Forest District Council to pay more than £197,000 in market supplements to retain staff

MORE than £197,000 will be paid out to district council employees to prevent them leaving for better paid roles.

A report to the council’s HR committee, which met last Wednesday, explained market supplements are currently paid to 73 of its staff across sectors in its corporate resources, housing, communities and governance, and place, operations and sustainability sectors.

A market supplement is an additional temporary payment to the basic salary of an individual job or specific group of jobs where market pressures would otherwise prevent an organisation from being able to recruit or retain staff with a particular skill or group of skills.

The council has had a market supplement policy in place since 2005.

As reported in the A&T, last year NFDC opted to continue to boost HGV drivers’ pay by 7.5% in order to safeguard services amid a national shortage.

It had introduced their payment in 2021 after some frontline waste and recycling services were suspended because of staff shortages.

The report states: “As at 1st March, 73 employees were in receipt of a market supplement payment. Of these, 45 of these are covered under the Market Supplement for Drivers which has been agreed by the portfolio holder.”

Nine were newly implemented within the last six months and therefore exempt from the annual review, it explained. Of these new agreements, seven relate to posts within the housing and communities directorate and two are roles in corporate resources.

The report adds: “The remaining 19 have been subject to the review process [and] there have been no changes made to the existing arrangements.”