Major shake-up for Highland Council pension arrangements

Posting out monthly pension payslips to 6,500 retired Highland Council workers is set to be scrapped as the cash-strapped local authority tries to save £29,000.

On Thursday, the authority’s pensions committee backed a recommendation to cut the number of pension payslips being sent so it can make the saving on postage charges.

It has also emerged finance officers are currently investigating whether salary payslips for its current 9,000-strong workforce could be sent electronically instead of the traditional post.

The moves come after the council agreed earlier this month to make almost £24 million worth of savings over the next two years in a bid to balance the books.

Dave Fallows, the council’s finance leader, said the pension idea had come up during last year’s public consultation into the budget but admitted it may have been floated within the council beforehand.

"We recognised it as a good idea and it is something we would like to try and achieve," he said.

"It is a worthwhile saving and normally nothing changes very much from one month to the next like tax and there is no need to keep repeating that."

Councillors will be asked to limit posting pension payslips to only March, April and May to show the pensioner’s annual statement and the effects of a standard increase, which is paid at that time of year.

However, the council will still post payslips if there is more than £10 of a difference in the payment from one month to the next.

Meanwhile, Councillor Fallows confirmed a move to scrap posting out wage slips to staff was also on the horizon.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority introduced the electronic method last year and Councillor Fallows is confident it could be replicated at the council successfully.

He said the move had not yet been costed but expected the potential saving to be far higher than the anticipated £29,000 from the pension costs, given the large council workforce.

It could see a specific password e-mailed to staff who could then access their payslip electronically via a confidential document.

"I wouldn’t want to pre-empt it but potentially we could save a substantial sum of money but we need to look at the legalities," said Councillor Fallows, who stressed staff would not be forced into receiving their salary slips via e-mail.

"We have got 9,000 staff and a heck of a lot of them have got e-mail. Not all of the payslips are currently posted out but they might go in batches to specific locations but we have also got the printing costs on top.

"I think there would be strong support for it, when they [staff] see the saving which generally doesn’t have a real impact on them they will always look to support it."

A report on the issue will come before the full council or the finance, housing and resources committee in the near future, he added.

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