Agenda item

Report by Director of Law and Assurance.

A new Members’ Allowances Scheme came into effect in May 2017, based on a Scheme recommended by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) to Council in December 2016.  The Council asked the IRP to review the Scheme after about a year of operation and the IRP review has now completed that review.  The Committee is asked to consider the IRP’s proposals for recommendation to the County Council.

24.1  The Committee was reminded that a new Members’ Allowances Scheme had come into effect in May 2017, based on a Scheme recommended by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) to Council in December 2016.  At that time the Council had asked the IRP to review the Scheme after about a year of operation.  The IRP had now completed that review and the Committee considered reports by Director of Law and Assurance and the IRP on proposals for onward recommendation to the County Council (copies appended to the signed minutes).

24.2  Three members of the IRP, Dr Beer, Mr Donaldson and Mr Scutt, attended the meeting.  Dr Beer, on behalf of the members of the IRP, introduced their report which was welcomed by members. 

24.3  The Leader welcomed and fully supported the proposals, particularly those relating to carer’s allowances and commented they would be helpful in encouraging younger people to stand for election.

24.4   Mr Acraman referred to the Appendix to the report and the question asked of members as to whether the allowances scheme struck the right balance between public service and the reality of carrying out the role.  He commented that he was increasingly of the view that the balance was no longer correct and that to attract younger people of working age the allowances for the average member should be increased, preferably before the next election.

24.5  Dr Beer responded on behalf of the IRP.  He said that he IRP had received a number of comments that people of working page found it difficult to deal with a lower salary resulting from the time remaining after their work as a councillor and accepted that that might prevent some people from standing for election.  However, the IRP felt it would be wrong to recommend wholesale changes to the basic allowance and that it would not send the right message to the electorate.  The IRP was aware that in other councils where significant increases had been proposed the recommendations had not been well received.  Allowances were not equivalent to salaries and any significant changes would need to come from government proposals on a national level rather than something the County Council could implement locally.

24.6  The Leader commented that, given the budget cuts which would need to be made over the next year, in her view it was not the time to consider significant increases to allowances.  Other members agreed and were of the view that attracting younger people to stand for election was not just about the money they received.  It was difficult to be a member and work full time and there were issues in terms of getting time off work for daytime meetings and encouraging employers to be flexible in allowing people time off for council business.   The Chairman commented that the Member Development Group was already looking at ways of encouraging more people to stand for election.

24.7  In relation to the member survey in the appendix to the IRP’s report, it was noted that the relatively low response rate may have been caused by the fact that an IT glitch had meant that when the survey was launched members’ answers were not initially recorded and they had therefore been asked to complete the survey a second time.

24.8    Resolved - That the Independent Remuneration Panel’s report and a recommendation from the Committee be submitted to the Council on 20 July 2018 for consideration.