To consider the report of the Senior Democratic Services & Scrutiny Officer (enclosed).

Scope of Work for the Panel:

The Panel, in considering the Members’ Allowance Scheme, considered the following:   

1.    At a full Council meeting on Tuesday 30 January 2024, Members considered a report by the IRP. The recommendations as detailed in the report were approved, apart from one recommendation which Council asked the IRP to reconsider. 

The following recommendation: ‘That Opposition Group Leaders be paid a SRA if Group consists of 5 or more Members.  (Note - this will remove the SRA for the Green Group Leader)’ was referred back to the Panel to enable Opposition Group Leaders and other Members to make representations on the proposal.

2.    A request had been received for the Panel to reconsider the amount payable to Planning Committee Members, in respect of duties held with attending the Committee (excluding the Chairman and Vice Chairman), currently £20 per meeting.  

An invitation was sent to all Councillors inviting them to provide any representations for the Panel to consider.  Six verbal representations were provided to the Panel as well as one written representation.

Representations given on Special Responsibility Allowances: 

·         Consensus that Councillors should be compensated appropriately for the work they do.

·         Difficulty finding balance between work/family and Council commitments.

·         Employers can allow Councillors to take time off work to attend meetings, however this can be unpaid.

Representations given on Leader of the Opposition (Minority) Group Allowance:

·         There was general agreement that the Opposition Leaders allowance be retained. 

·         It was important that all groups were represented fairly and equally no matter their size.

·         The Group Leader is still required to attend briefings with the Chief Executive, consult their group on policies, present and speak at Council and Committee’s on Council policies and strategies, attend external events to represent the Council e.g. A Place to Grow, Youth Council, Planning Appeals, etc. The Group Leader needs to be seen and heard and must get involved. They will be penalised if the allowance is removed. The allowance isn’t a significant amount, rather an acknowledgement of position and the extra responsibility placed on them.

·         When considering the data provided to the Panel, only one other local authority had removed the allowance from the Opposition Leader.

·         There was also a suggestion that a tiered approach be considered dependant on the number of members in the group.

Representations given on Audit and Corporate Governance Chairman: 

·         That the Special Responsibility Allowance paid to the Chair of Audit and Corporate Governance Committee (ACG) be reviewed as the data presented to the Panel showed that the current allowance was lower when compared to other local authorities. 

·         The agenda’s for ACG Committee were long and contained fairly complex information including financial data. Several briefings were required with the Council’s finance officers.

·         The ACG Committee Chair is responsible for signing-off the Council’s accounts and will be imperative in upcoming local government reorganisation work. 

Representations given on Planning Committee Allowance:

·         High expectations of Members on this committee:

o   attending annual mandatory training

o   attending additional training in the form of masterclasses

o   the agendas can be quite long and technical and refer to key planning policies which members must be aware of.

·         It is a long day for members of the committee; site visit starts after lunch and then rolls into Committee which can last a few hours.

·         The committee deals with contentious planning applications, leading to an increase in communication from the public. As it is a public-facing committee – it has the highest number of public attending.

·         That Councillors ought to receive food/subsistence as part of their duties.

·         There has been no review of the current allowance since it was introduced.

·         It is difficult to find Councillors to substitute on this Committee – they must have attended the mandatory training and be available for half a day.

·         There should be a level of competency applied when considering who can be appointed to this committee as it requires significant training.

 Other comments: 

·         Member Champions allowances should be reviewed depending on their work. Regular updates should be provided to Council on their work – how is their allowance determined? Does it provide value for money? 

The Panel would like to place on record their thanks to the officers and Members who attended the meeting to provide their advice and representations. 

The Panel considered the Special Responsibility Allowances and the views of Councillors and determined that changes should be made to the Allowances and the Scheme.