West Midlands Combined Authority's Pay Policy Statement

The purpose of this policy is to clarify West Midlands Combined Authority’s strategic stance on pay in order to provide direction for members and officers making detailed decisions on pay and to provide the citizens of the West Midlands with a clear statement of the principles underpinning decisions on the use of public funds.

Under s112 Local Government Act 1972 the Authority has the power to appoint officers on such reasonable terms and conditions, including remuneration, as the authority thinks fit. This Pay Policy Statement (the ‘statement’) sets out the Authority's approach to pay policy in accordance with the requirements of Section 38 of the Localism Act 2011. The purpose of the statement is to provide transparency with regard to the Authority’s approach to setting the pay of its employees by identifying;

• the methods by which salaries of all employees are determined;

• the detail and level of remuneration of its most senior staff i.e. ‘Chief Officers’, as defined by the relevant legislation;

• the Committee responsible for ensuring the provisions set out in this statement are applied consistently throughout the West Midlands Combined Authority and for recommending any amendments to the statement to the West Midland Combined Authority Board.

Once approved by the Board, the statement will come into immediate effect and will be published by no later than 1 April each year, subject to review on a minimum of an annual basis in accordance with the relevant legislation prevailing at that time.

In determining the pay and remuneration of all of its employees, the West Midlands Combined Authority will comply with all relevant employment legislation. This includes, but is not an exhaustive list, 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.

With regard to the Equal Pay requirements contained within the Equality Act, the West Midlands Combined Authority ensures there is no pay discrimination within its pay structures and that all pay differentials can be objectively justified through the use of equality-proofed job evaluation mechanisms which directly relate salaries to the requirements, demands and responsibilities of the role.

The purpose of pay is to encourage staff with the appropriate skills to seek to work for the Authority and to reward them appropriately for the role they undertake in order to maintain their motivation and retain their services.

Based on the application of job evaluation processes, the West Midlands Combined Authority uses the nationally negotiated pay spine as the basis for its local grading structure (known as the main salary scale). This determines the salaries of the majority of the workforce, together with the use of other nationally defined rates where relevant.

The West Midlands Combined Authority’s terms and conditions of employment for non-Chief Officers will be in accordance with collective agreements negotiated from time to time by the Passenger Transport Forum (PTF) for Passenger Transport Executive Staff set out in the Scheme of Salaries and Conditions of Service (Commonly known as the “Green Book”) as amended or supplemented by such local collective agreements reached with trade unions recognised by the West Midlands Combined Authority, currently Unison. The association with the PTF is under review, with an option to recognise the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government for future negotiated pay award agreements for non-Chief Officers and all policies for salaries and conditions of service to be though local collective agreements.

In determining its grading structure and setting remuneration levels for all posts, the West Midlands Combined Authority takes 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 are able to meet the requirements of providing high quality services to the community, delivered effectively and efficiently and at times at which those services are required.

New appointments will normally be made at the minimum of the relevant grade, although this can be varied where necessary to secure the best candidate when a higher skill level and/or experience are applicable. From time to time it may be necessary to take account of the external pay market in order to attract and retain employees with particular experience, skills and capacity. Where necessary, the West Midlands Combined Authority will ensure the requirement for such is objectively justified by reference to clear and transparent evidence of relevant market comparators, using appropriate data sources.

The Authority has a policy to offer market supplements in instances where the substantive grade of the post is insufficient to attract or retain post holders in skill shortage areas, based on evidence of recruitment and retention difficulties. The market supplement has been defined in the form of a maximum of 2 additional increments added to the main salary scale grade, or it will consider the use of temporary market forces supplements in accordance with its relevant policies.

Where a temporary market supplement has been applied, this will be applied as a nonconsolidated payment, not applicable to cost-of-living increases. The applicable market supplement will be reviewed on a periodic basis to ensure market conditions are pertaining.

For the purposes of this statement, ‘chief officers’ are as defined within S43 of the Localism Act and the Authorities constitution. The Chief Officer posts falling within the statutory definition are set out below, with details of their basic salary as at 1st April 2025, inclusive of the proposed 3.2% pay award. Salaries quoted are based on the full time equivalent (FTE) of 36.5 hours per week.

Deputy chief officers and senior management of the Authority are set out below, with details of their basic salary as at 1st April 2025. Salaries quoted are based on the full time equivalent (FTE) of 36.5 hours per week.

The table lists the 100 Senior Management posts that make up 10.19% of the 1021* people employed by the West Midlands Combined Authority.

*Refers to the staffing count as at 30th November 2025 which includes all permanent, fixed term and casual employees.

*Salary amounts inclusive of proposed 3.2% pay award for 2025-26; subject to pending 2026-27 pay award

Appendix 2 details roles for Assistant Director/Head of Service/Head of Specialism/Senior Manager as at 30th November 2025.

For information the main salary scale, covering the majority of the workforce, is shown in the Appendix 1.

The West Midlands Combined Authority’s policy and procedures with regard to recruitment of chief officer related posts is set out within the Constitution which can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.

The West Midlands Combined Authority shall appoint seven separate Members from the Constituent Councils, the Mayor of the Authority and any other additional person as required, as members of the Employment Committee. When recruiting to all posts the West Midlands Combined Authority will take full and proper account of its own policies and procedures. The determination of the remuneration to be offered to any newly appointed chief officer related position will be in accordance with the pay structure and relevant policies in place at the time of recruitment. The agreement of pay and conditions for the Chief Executive and Chief Officers and Deputy Chief officers are in accordance with the Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Officers of Local Authorities’. Where the West Midlands Combined Authority is unable to recruit to a post at the designated grade, it will consider the use of temporary market forces supplements in accordance with its relevant policies.

Where the West Midlands Combined Authority remains unable to recruit to chief officer or deputy chief officer related posts under a contract of employment, or there is a need for interim support to provide cover for a vacant substantive chief officer related post, the Authority will, where necessary, consider engaging individuals under ‘contracts for service’. Recruitment will in accordance with the relevant recruitment polices ensuring the West Midlands Combined Authority is able to demonstrate the maximum value for money. The temporary filling of a vacancy for a post of Chief Officer or Deputy Chief Officer will be reviewed after a period of no more than 12 months.

The West Midlands Combined Authority does not apply any bonuses or performance related pay to its chief officer related posts. Chief Officers, within WMCA, are employed on an incremental scale or a spot salary within the designated pay range. The salary structures each have minimum and maximum range, as shown in the Appendix1. Where additional responsibility is undertaken, the Authority may apply an honorarium reflective of the additional duties undertaken in accordance with relevant pay polices.

The West Midlands Combined Authority’s approach to discretionary payments on termination of employment of chief officers, prior to reaching normal retirement age, is set out within its policy statement in accordance with Regulations 5 and 6 of the Local Government (Early Termination of Employment) (Discretionary Compensation) Regulations 2006 and the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Regulations 2013 (as amended).

The circumstances of each individual redundancy case will be assessed, each specific case will be judged equally and fairly on its own merits. For redundancy payment purposes the following applies to all post holders:

- All continuous service with local authority and other bodies specified by The Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government, etc) (Modification) Order, as amended, counts towards the entitlement to and calculation of a payment. Any service already taken into account by a Scheme employer in calculating compensation under these or similar Regulations will be excluded.

- No employee may receive a redundancy payment in a sum greater than their current annual salary as at the date of redundancy. (This excludes any payment for pay in lieu of notice).

- Statutory or enhanced redundancy pay will be paid to those with over 2 years continuous employment. Payment for each week’s pay will be calculated on the number of statutory weeks, based on an employee’s age and length of employment. Length of service is capped at 20 years.

- A week’s pay for the calculation of statutory redundancy pay shall be that set by the statutory redundancy guidelines.

- A week's pay for the calculation of the enhanced redundancy payment shall be the actual amount of a week's pay based on the annual salary as at the date of redundancy. To calculate the enhanced redundancy payment this shall be multiplied by a factor of 1.75.

Any other payments falling outside the provisions or the relevant periods of contractual notice shall be subject to a formal decision made by the West Midlands Combined Authority or relevant elected members, committee or panel of elected members with delegated authority to approve such payments.

Upon approval by the West Midlands Combined Authority Board, this statement will be published on the West Midlands Combined Authority’s website.

In addition, the West Midlands Combined Authority's Annual Statement of Accounts will include a note setting out the number of staff whose total remuneration is at least £50,000 and for chief officer posts it will show the amount of:

- salary, fees or allowances paid to or receivable by the person in the current and previous year;

- employer’s contribution to the person's pension;

- any bonuses so paid or receivable by the person in the current and previous year;

- any sums payable by way of expenses allowance that are chargeable to UK income tax;

- any compensation for loss of employment and any other payments connected with termination;

- any benefits received that do not fall within the above.

The West Midlands Combined Authority has adopted the principle to pay the UK Real Living Wage. The lowest paid persons employed under a contract of employment with the West Midlands Combined Authority are employed in accordance with the minimum spinal column point currently in use within the Authority’s grading structure. As at 1st April 2025 this is £26,761 per annum and is 7 points higher than the main pay spine minimum (Salary Point 9) and 7 points higher than the UK Real Living Wage minimum in the spinal column. West Midlands Combined Authority have obtained living wage foundation accreditation. Any changes to the Real Living Wage hourly rate will be implemented from the 1st April each year following the increase.

The West Midlands Combined Authority employs apprentices who are not included within the definition of ‘lowest paid employees’ as the terms and conditions are determined by the National Apprenticeship Service. The relationship between the rate of pay for the lowest paid and chief officers is determined by the processes used for determining pay and grading structures as set out earlier in this policy statement.

The statutory guidance under the Localism Act recommends the use of pay multiples as a means of measuring the relationship between pay rates across the workforce and that of senior managers, as included within the Hutton ‘Review of Fair Pay in the Public Sector’ (2010). The Hutton report was asked by Government to explore the case for a fixed limit on dispersion of pay through a requirement that no public sector manager can earn more than 20 times the lowest paid person in the organisation. The report concluded that “it would not be fair or wise for the Government to impose a single maximum pay multiple across the public sector”. The West Midlands Combined Authority accepts the view that the relationship to median earnings is a more relevant measure and the Government’s Code of Recommended Practice on Data Transparency recommends the publication of the ratio between highest paid salary and the median average salary of the whole of the authority’s workforce.

The current pay levels within the West Midlands Combined Authority define the multiple between the lowest paid employee and the Chief Executive as 1:7.85 and; between the lowest paid and average chief officer as 1:3.42. The Authority’s multiplier falls well below Lord Hutton’s public sector threshold.

As part of its overall and ongoing monitoring of alignment with external pay markets, both within and outside the sector, the West Midlands Combined Authority will use available benchmark information as appropriate.

West Midlands Combined Authority would not normally re-employ or re-engage chief officers who were previously employed by the Authority and who on ceasing to be employed, received severance or redundancy payment. This applies to chief officers employed on permanent, temporary and external contracts.

In accordance with the Constitution of the West Midlands Combined Authority, the Employment Committee is responsible for decision making in relation to the recruitment, pay, terms and conditions and severance arrangements in relation to certain chief officer positions within the West Midlands Combined Authority. Further details of Employment Committee responsibilities can be accessed Click Here.

Overall, the Authority aims to maintain a mid to upper quartile market position on chief officer pay in comparison to similar authorities.

West Midlands Combined Authority – Main Salary Scale

WITH EFFECT FROM 1 APRIL 2025 (inclusive of proposed 3.2% pay award)

WITH EFFECT FROM 1 APRIL 2025 (inclusive of proposed 3.2% pay award)

Chief Operating Officer Levels – Salary Scale

Director Levels – Salary Scale

Senior Manager Levels – Salary Scale

Assistant Director/Head of Service/Head of Specialism/Senior Manager