Pay policy statement (2026/27)

This policy statement is provided in accordance with Section 38(1) of the Localism Act 2011.

North Northamptonshire Council implemented its own pay and grading structure and accompanying terms and conditions of employment in January 2024. During 2025, all employees on terms and conditions protected by their TUPE transfer into the council will be offered the opportunity to voluntarily move onto the council’s own pay, terms and conditions. As of January 2026, 85% of colleagues are now employed on these pay, terms and conditions.

The purpose of this statement is to provide transparency regarding the council’s approach to setting the pay of its directly employed workforce for 2026/27. In particular:

• the remuneration of chief officers
• the remuneration of the lowest-paid employees
  and
• the relationship between the remuneration of chief officers and employees who are not chief officers.

Overview and principles

The council is committed to ensuring a fair and transparent approach in determining the pay of its’ workforce and to ensuring that its’ pay and grading structure attracts and retains talented employees to deliver its objectives.

In designing future pay arrangements, key principles include:

• being fair, reasonable and transparent
• affordability
• rewarding employees for their contributions and achievements
• maintaining rates of pay which are competitive in attracting and retaining critical skills and talent

Scope

This statement covers all employees except for employees based in local authority-maintained schools with delegated budgets.

Definitions

Definitions for the purpose of this pay statement are as follows:

'Pay' in addition to salary includes charges, fees, allowances, benefits in kind, increases in enhancements to pension entitlements, and termination payments. It does not include any employer pension or national insurance contributions.

'Chief Officer' refers to the following roles within the council:

'Employees who are not a Chief Officer' refers to employees who are not covered under the Chief Officer detailed in the table above. This includes the lowest paid employees.

'Lowest paid employees' refers to employees who TUPE transferred into the council and employees appointed by the council employed on NNC pay terms. The lowest full time equivalent salary within the council (apart from those paid the statutory apprenticeship rates) is £23,967 (a TUPE salary rate), which is £12.42 per hour.

Remuneration 

Chief Officers

Where a senior post is being appointed to, and will be remunerated in excess of £100,000, Full Council are given the opportunity to consider the salary range that will be offered. This ensures that there is adequate transparency and accountability from elected members who are directly accountable to the electorate. 

Full Council has delegated authority to the Employment Committee to make appointments to Chief Officers. They will be able to make an offer of remuneration within the salary range agreed by Full Council. 

Chief Officer roles have been evaluated using the nationally recognised Hay Job Evaluation Scheme to ensure:

• posts are graded and rewarded financially through a fair and non-discriminatory process.
• there is consistency in treatment between posts; and 
• the Council complies with equal pay legislation. 

Chief Officer salaries have been benchmarked against roles in comparable Unitary councils, both in terms of the size and complexity of services delivered.

On appointment, Chief Officer salaries are offered within the relevant benchmarked salary range for the role and commensurate with the candidates most recent salary and experience. The benchmarked salary ranges are set out in Section 10.

The Deputy Chief Executive designation attracts an additional allowance of £10,000 to reflect the responsibilities associated with deputising for the Chief Executive on occasions, in addition to their core responsibilities.

The Chief Executive is the appointed Returning Officer and will receive a fee for administering local and parliamentary elections and referendums. This role is separate from that of Chief Executive and carries with it personal accountabilities.

The fee paid will vary but will be determined in accordance with the relevant Scale of Fees updated and noted by the Democracy and Standards Committee on 23 September 2023. For national elections and referendums, fees are met by the body responsible for funding the poll.

Employees who are not a Chief Officer

Full Council has responsibility for determining pay, terms and conditions for North Northamptonshire Council and has delegated authority to the Head of Paid Service to negotiate and agree them.

Employees appointed since 1 April 2021 are now on North Northamptonshire Council pay, terms and conditions. During 2025, employees who transferred into the council between 1 April 2021 and 31 September 2025 were given the opportunity to voluntarily move onto North Northamptonshire Council pay, terms and conditions. As of January 2026, 85% of colleagues are now employed on these pay, terms and conditions.

Annually, employees on TUPE terms and conditions will be offered the opportunity to voluntarily move onto North Northamptonshire Council pay, terms and conditions. 

Pay awards

The council will adjust pay levels to take account of any pay award set by statutory pay order or negotiated nationally by:

• the JNC for Local Authority Chief Executives
• the JNC for Chief Officers of Local Authorities
• the NJC for Local Government Service
• the Soulbury Committee
• the Department of Education for unattached (centrally employed) teachers

This will apply to employees on North Northamptonshire Council pay, terms and conditions as well as those remaining on TUPE protected ‘nationally agreed’ pay terms and conditions.

Severance payments

The North Northamptonshire Council Constitution delegates authority to the Head of Paid Service to agree and make severance payments, in consultation with the Assistant Director, Human Resources, Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer. Where a severance payment is more than £100,000, Full Council are given the opportunity to consider it prior to it being agreed. This ensures that there is adequate transparency and accountability from elected members who are directly accountable to the electorate.

Pay ratios

Pay Multiples are also included in this section as a way of illustrating our approach to pay dispersion.

In accordance with the Local Government Transparency Code (2014) and the Localism Act (2011), Table 2 shows the highest full time equivalent (fte) salary within the council and the associated pay multiple.

*The ratio between the highest paid employee (the Head of Paid Service) and the lowest paid, based on full time equivalent salary.

**The pay multiple ratio between the salary of the highest paid employee (the Head of Paid Service) and the mean full time equivalent salary of the organisation.

***The pay multiple ratio between the salary of the highest paid employee (the Head of Paid Service) and the median full time equivalent salary of the organisation.

*The mean and median salaries and pay multiples outlined in Table 2 are based on total full time equivalent (FTE) salary and additional payments for employees in post on 26 January 2026 (10 months of data) and will be revised once we have full year remuneration data for the 2025/26 financial year, in accordance with the Local Government Transparency Code (2014) and the Localism Act (2011). The figures exclude schools, casual workers and zero hours employees.

Pay strategy

In determining the pay and remuneration of its employees, the council will comply with all relevant employment legislation. This includes the Equality Act 2010, Part Time Employment (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 and where relevant, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Earnings) Regulations.

Regarding the Equal Pay requirements contained within the Equality Act, the council ensures that all pay arrangements can be objectively justified through the use of job evaluation methods.

The council will take the following approach to assessing individual and overall pay levels:

• to recruit and retain staff in a way which is externally competitive and internally fair
• the appropriate pay band for a job is established through a process of job matching underpinned by job evaluation, which considers the level of knowledge, skills and accountability required for the role
• in determining the pay structure and setting overall pay levels for all posts, take account of the need to ensure value for money in respect of the use of public expenditure, balanced against the need to recruit and retain employees who can meet the requirements of providing high quality services to the community, delivered effectively and efficiently and at times at which those services are required
• the principle of encouraging employees to develop in their role and to improve their performance will inform the design, with pay bands containing a number of pay steps and an annual opportunity to progress up pay steps within the relevant job pay band
• any requirement for additional allowance or supplement will be objectively justified by reference to clear and transparent evidence and where market supplements are considered that this is with reference to data available from within and outside the local government sector
• where different pay arrangements apply to different groups of staff, the reasons will be clearly evidenced and documented
• policies about termination payments and employer discretions under the Local Government Pension Scheme will be reviewed and published for all staff - these will be produced with the intention of only making additional payments when in the best interests of the authority and maintaining consistency through all pay bands
   

Benchmarked salary ranges

The salary ranges for Head of Paid Service, Section 151 Officer, Monitoring Officer and the Statutory and Non- Statutory Chief Officers who form the Corporate Leadership team, are set out in the table below.

*Salary information reflects current values and will be updated in line with the 2026 pay awards, once these have been agreed nationally.

Additional Information on Chief Officer salaries is published in the local government transparency data at senior salaries.

Publication and access to information

This Pay Policy Statement will be published on the council’s website, together with the council’s pay and grading structure and information relating to senior management remuneration.

Last updated 18 June 2026