Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Health (City and Hackney).

The Committee reviewed the report of the Director of Public Health (City and Hackney) providing the Committee with an update on actions taken to reduce health inequalities for people working in routine, manual and service occupation, noting that the actions and updates were reviewed by the CoLC’s Health and Wellbeing Board at the meeting of 22 September 2023 (item 6: “Members agree to adopt the resolutions by the relevant committees of the City of London Corporation, and refer the resolutions to the Corporate Services Committee”), also discussed at the meeting of 24 March 2023,  to be submitted to the CoLC’s Policy & Resources Committee.

The Committee noted the following:

- the potentially detrimental impact that low-paid shift work can have on the health and wellbeing of staff including those from the hidden and essential workforce;

- that there is merit in supporting studies that seek to identify potential actions that can address health inequalities in the essential and hidden workforce; and

- the recommendations set out in the report relating to sick pay and death in service eligibility (without a qualifying period) for workers, noting also the merits of undertaking further work to assess the likely costs, benefits and HR implications of implementation of such measures.

A Member asked whether the CoLC followed best practice in respect of hidden carers among those that worked at the CoLC, and asked whether services should be provided outside normal hours for CoLC shift workers who might be hidden carers (particularly those with late finishing times and those with long travel times). The meeting heard that the corporate senior leadership team was supportive of the principles, and that a financial impact assessment had been requested in support of any recommendations and decisions on the matter.

A Member commented that concerns about health and wellbeing of shift workers (whether contracted, zero-hours or directly employed) have been raised for at least a decade and suggested that access to buildings and healthcare should be expanded to improve working conditions and that concrete recommendations should be formulated and submitted to high-level CoLC Committees, partly as a way of showing leadership in the area.