Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive. The chair of the Independent Remuneration Panel, Paul Johnstone will be in attendance.

The Chief Executive introduced the report as circulated with the agenda.  The report explained that the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) had completed the statutory four yearly review of the Members Allowance Scheme and their recommendations for implementation from April 2015 were set out in paragraph 5 of the report. The full report of the IRP was attached as an appendix to the main report. He indicated that the chair of the IRP, Paul Johnstone, was in attendance to answer any questions that Members had on their report.

A Member was puzzled that the basic allowance seemed to be in line with other councils in the same family as Cheltenham whereas the Cabinet Member’s Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) seemed much higher by comparison.

The chair of the IRP explained that the panel had set out to provide a matrix scheme for calculating all allowances which was transparent and could be open to change by Council. The factors in the scheme, which determined the SRAs, had been set by the panel after many different consultations with Members over several years and the scheme had been in place in its current form since 2006.  There had been no objections to the methodology adopted and Council had the option to revise any factors they felt needed adjustment.

A Member queried the £100 that was being recommended to be included in the basic allowance.

The chair of the IRP referred Members to the panel’s report where the panel explained that the additional sum was an allowance to Members for the use of their own home ICT, Wi-Fi and communication facilities. 

In response to a question from a Member, it was confirmed that the current scheme did provide provision for a Dependent Carer's Allowance.

A Member expressed a view that Members with a poor attendance record should not continue to receive their allowance.

Another Member challenged this view, saying that Members could often achieve more through their casework in their ward than they could in attending a council or committee meeting. In their view the Council should acknowledge the financial hardship that many of their residents were experiencing and take no increases in their allowances which he considered were adequate.

The Leader proposed an amendment to the recommendations set out in section 5 of the covering report in that 2) and 5) should be deleted. This would mean that no SRAs would receive the recommended 1% inflationary increase. In proposing the recommendation he thanked the panel for their work. He acknowledged that the Council could not freeze allowances indefinitely as they must be mindful of the need to attract new Councillors. On this basis he considered it was appropriate that the basic allowance was increased by 1% but not the SRAs.

Councillor Clucas seconded the amendment and this became the substantive motion.

Regarding the additional ICT component, she highlighted that Members with a council iPad still needed access to WiFi at home which did have a cost. She also stressed the importance of ordinary working people being able to afford to stand as a Councillor and highlighted that in freezing allowances for the last 5 years, there had been an effective reduction in the basic allowance in the order of £1000.

This view was echoed by another Member who did not feel the basic allowance was financially incentivising people to become Councillors but he welcomed the increase.

Upon a vote it was

RESOLVED that;

1.    The recommendations of the IRP report as amended be accepted for implementation from April 2015, as follows:

      i.        That the Basic Allowance payable to all Councillors is increased by 1%  and an additional amount of £100 per annum be incorporated to cover the essentials necessary to carry out the role as detailed in the report.

    ii.        That the SRA for the role of Group Leader should only be payable where a political group has 4 Members or more.  

   iii.        That the level of knowledge and experience necessary for the chair of Audit Committee be increased with a corresponding increase to the SRA for 2014/15 from £454 to £681.

   iv.        That the allowances for Mayor and Deputy Mayor are increased by 1%

    v.        That all other aspects of the Members Allowance Scheme remain unchanged.

   vi.        The next full review required by legislation will start in September 2018 reporting to Council in December 2018 with an intervening review each September as detailed in the scheme. 

2.    The Chief Executive be authorised to implement the necessary changes to the scheme of allowances and the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer be authorised to make the necessary changes to the Council’s constitution.

Voting:  For 24, Against 10 with no abstentions