Agenda item

Councillors' Allowances Scheme 2019/20 - 2022/23

Report by Director of Resources

Minutes:

Further to Minutes 54 and 9 of the Council’s meetings held on 26 March and 22 May 2019 respectively, the Director of Resources submitted a report recommending that the Council considered the findings of the Independent Remuneration Panel to amend the adopted scheme of Councillors’ Allowances for the financial year 2019/20.

 

The report stated that the Independent Remuneration Panel had met to consider a scheme of allowances for councillors and to make recommendations to Council.  The report stated that the Panel had conducted a full review of Councillors’ Allowances and its report and recommendations were attached to the report for consideration.  As part of the review, all councillors had been invited to submit their comments in writing via a questionnaire and twenty three responses had been received.  The Panel had also interviewed the Leader of the Council and the leaders of the Conservative and Green groups as well as the Lead Councillor for Children. This enabled the Panel to gather information on councillors’ roles on council business, views on the current scheme, comparisons with other authorities, the cost of the scheme to the Council, and comments on what activities and roles warranted a special responsibility allowance.

 

The Panel concluded that Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) in Reading had fallen far behind those paid to councillors in the other Berkshire unitary authorities and its comparable group ‘statistical neighbours’. The Panel did not believe that Reading’s councillors should be valued less than their counterparts in other parts of the county and therefore recommended increases in SRAs to bring the rate broadly up to the Berkshire average.

 

The following motion was moved by Councillor Brock and seconded by Councillor Page and CARRIED:

 

Resolved –

 

That, in accordance with the Local Authorities (Members Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003, the Councillors’ Allowances scheme adopted from 1 April 2019, be amended, in accordance with the provision set out in Regulation 10(3), as follows:

 

(1)     That, for 2019-20, the total sum for the payment of Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances to councillors be set at £550,000;

 

(2)     That, within this total sum, the provision for the payment of Basic Allowance to all councillors remain at £378,125; and the Basic Allowance paid to individual councillors remain the same at £8,220 a year;

 

(3)     That the Special Responsibility Allowances payments be amended to the amounts set out, as follows:

(a)     the amount paid to the Leader to be £18,500;

(b)     the amount paid to the Deputy Leader to be £11,300;

(c)      the amount paid to SRA Tier 1 to be £9,500;

(d)     the amount paid to SRA Tier 2 to be £6,076;

(e)     the amount paid to SRA Tier 3 to be £3,039;

(f)      the amount paid to SRA Tier 4 to be £1,074.

         No councillor shall receive more than one Special Responsibility Allowance;

 

(4)     That the existing categorisation of tiers should be amended along with the introduction of a fourth tier, as follows:

        Tier 1 to be paid to the Lead Councillors;

        Tier 2 to be paid to the Leader of the main opposition group and the Chairs of Licensing Applications Committee and Planning Applications Committee;

        Tier 3 to be paid to the Chairs of Committees (except the Chair of the Appeals Committee), and Group Leaders of the other political groups;

                 Tier 4 to be paid to councillors carrying out such other activities in relation to the discharge of the authority’s functions as require the commitment of equivalent time and effort as for other categories of activity which would qualify for Special Responsibility Allowance under Paragraph 5(1)(i) of the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003;

 

(5)     That the following persons shall be regarded as, or equivalent to, “other Councillors carrying out other activities in relation to the discharge of the authority’s functions as require the commitment of equivalent time and effort as for other categories of activity which would qualify for Special Responsibility Allowance” at Tier 4 (and subject to no Councillor receiving more than one Special Responsibility Allowance):

·                   Vice-Chairs of Committees;

·                   Independent Person appointed in accordance with Section 28 of the Localism Act 2011 to carry out the functions specified in that Act in relation to the Members’ Code of Conduct and Local Standards Committee

 

(6)     That the 2019-20 arrangements for the payment of Dependant Carers’ Allowance be raised by a cost of living increase of 2.8%, paid in line with the real living wage, as follows:

 

(a)     Up to £9 per hour for childcare for up to 15 hours a week

(b)     Up to £9 per hour towards the cost of a care attendant for an elderly or disabled relative (including a disabled child) for up to 15 hours a week

 

The person providing the care may not be a close relative defined as spouse, partner (opposite or same sex cohabitees), parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents and grandchildren.  The paid care attendant must sign a receipt to show that they have cared for the dependent during the hours claimed for;

 

(7)     That, subject to (9) below, the level of subsistence allowances, with the exception of overnight subsistence, remain the same as officers receive.  The allowances are currently:

 

        Subsistence

o        Breakfast allowance                  £8.26

o        Lunch allowance              £11.41

o        Tea allowance                           £4.52

o        Evening meal allowance    £14.13

o        Overnight subsistence       £82.21 a day outside London

£93.77 a day in London or at LGA Annual Conferences

 

(8)     That the level of travel allowances be set as the same as officers receive, as follows:

·                Travel by councillor’s own motor vehicle – 45 pence per mile

·                Travel by councillor’s own bicycle – 37 pence per mile

·                Travel by councillor’s own motorcycle – 40.9 pence per mile

·                Bus travel – cost of the ordinary fare, cheap fare or portion of any weekly ticket;

 

(9)     That the subsistence limits referred to in (7) above be exceeded in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the Monitoring Officer, e.g. to enable a Councillor and an officer attending a conference to stay at the same accommodation, subject to there being sufficient budget provision;

 

(10)    That provision for Co-optees’ Allowances are payable solely to non-councillor members of the Standards Committee attending meetings of the Committee or any Sub-Committee set up by the Committee as part of its process of assessing, investigating and hearing complaints about Councillors; the allowances to be paid at the daily rate equivalent of the Councillors’ Basic Allowance; the Monitoring Officer to be authorised to settle the rate to be paid on each occasion;

 

(11)    That the salary sacrifice schemes available to Council staff also be made available to Councillors;

 

(12)    That the amended members’ allowances scheme for 2019/20 to 2022/23 set out in (1) to (11) above be implemented from 1 October 2019; 

 

(13)    That the basic allowance and the Special Responsibility Allowances set out above be increased at the beginning of each new financial year in accordance with the Local Government Pay Settlement for the period of the scheme (ie the subsequent three years to 1 April 2022);

 

(14)    That, in respect of the Independent Remuneration Panel’s recommendation:

(a)           to offer Councillors parking permits for any parking zones in the ward for which they had been elected be deferred to enable consideration of the proposal with reference to the Council’s sustainable travel policies;

(b)           to include the Vice-Chairs of Licensing Applications Committee and Planning Applications Committee in Tier 3 of the Councillors’ Allowances Scheme be not accepted and instead these Vice-Chairs be awarded a SRA at Tier 4, which would be consistent with the other Vice-Chairs of Committees;

(c)           to appoint a second Vice-Chair of the Licensing Applications Committee in view of the exceptional frequency and length of meetings would not be accepted.

 

(15)    That the Council’s appreciation be recorded to the members of the Remuneration Panel for their thorough review of the Councillors’ Allowances Scheme and for their carefully considered recommendations.

Supporting documents: