Agenda item

To discuss the findings of the report of the Members’ Remuneration Panel with the Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Lead for Cabinet Lead for Finance and Coastal Communities and the Chief Finance Officer.

(Councillor Bains left during consideration of this item)

The Board considered a report from the Members’ Remuneration Panel setting out its findings and recommendations following a scrutiny review of the Councillors’ Allowances Scheme. The Leader of the Council (“the Leader”) and the Cabinet Lead for Finance and Coastal Communities (“the Cabinet Lead”) were invited to join the meeting.

The Board noted the following amendments to the report

Schedule 1

The Chairman of Joint Human Resources Committee Allowance to be amended to read £3,643”

The Chairman of the Licensing Committee Allowance to be amended to read “£1,116”

The Chairman of the Members’ Remuneration Panel introduced the report. She advised that the Panel’s main consideration was to ensure that the Leaders Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) reflected the duties, responsibilities and workload attached to this post.

With regard to the the Mayoral post, the Panel had been asked to look into the possibility of creating an SRA for this post and its recommendations. The Panel had evaluated the post and included it within their recommendations.

The Leader declined to comment on the proposed changes to the leader’s allowance. However, he submitted the following comments regarding the remainder of report:

(a)        he acknowledged that it was difficult to calculate an allowance for a post that reflected the duties and responsibilities attached to it and at the same time take into account that the post was voluntary and not expected to receive its full commercial value;

 (b)         he emphasised that the levels or existence of Basic or Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) were not the driving force in becoming a councillor or accepting an SRA post;

(c)          He preferred to have some flexibility in the councillors’ allowance scheme, which would enable him to afford to appoint Cabinet Leads or Assistance Cabinet Leads when needed;

(d)          he considered that the position of the Mayor should not receive a special responsibility allowance for the following reasons:

              (i)           to be appointed Mayor should be considered as a reward in itself;

              (ii)          the Mayor already received an allowance of £3,000 under Section 3(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 to enable him to meet the expenses of the office;

              (iii)         the operation costs (e.g. mayoral duties, secretarial costs etc.) of a Mayor was currently approximately £100,000 per annum; and

              (iv)         the proposed additional allowance would hinder his flexibility to afford any new SRA posts and his long term aim for succession planning.

The Cabinet Lead supported the views of the Leader and emphasised that the position of the Mayor should be viewed as an honour. She reminded the Board that matter had been considered before and rejected. She advised that she had no objections to the other changes recommended by the Panel.

The Chairman drew the Cabinet Lead’s attention to the fact even without the introduction of an SRA for the Mayor, the changes would result in an increase of £19,085 and asked if this was acceptable. The Cabinet Lead advised that although she was not happy about any additional expenditure, she would look into ways of accommodating the proposed increases, if the revised scheme was agreed.

The Board considered the report and the views of the Leader and Cabinet Lead in detail. The Board considered that whilst it was prepared to accept an increase in the Leader’s SRA, it could not support an SRA for the Mayor for the reasons given by the Leader and Cabinet Lead and therefore agreed that the proposed SRA for the Mayor be deleted from the Councillors’ Allowance Scheme.

It was therefore

RESOLVED that the Cabinet be requested to recommend the Council to adopt the Councillors’ Allowance Scheme attached as Appendix B to these minutes.