Agenda item

Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel on the Review of the Scheme of Members' Allowances 2024

Meeting of Council, Wednesday, 20th December, 2023 6.00 pm (Item 99.)

Executive Summary

This report makes recommendations to Full Council on the allowances and expenses to be paid to Members to take effect from 01 May 2024. In accordance with the requirements of the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003, the Council established an Independent Remuneration Panel at the meeting of Full Council held on 20 September 2023. The terms of reference for the Panel were also agreed at the September meeting of Full Council.

Although members can choose not to support the recommendations of the Panel, the legislation requires the following: ‘Before an authority makes or amends a scheme, it shall have regard to the recommendations made in relation to it by an independent remuneration panel’. The findings and recommendations of the Panel are detailed in this report.

Options considered

To support all of the recommendations made by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP)
To support some of the recommendations made by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP), whilst rejecting some.
To reject all of the recommendations made by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP)

Consultation(s)

Members were consulted throughout the process. They were invited to submit comments for the IRP to consider and a survey was circulated for completion. Two group leaders met with the panel to share their views.

Recommendations

That Members consider the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel, adopt a scheme of allowances and amend the Constitution accordingly.

Specifically, it is recommended that:

a) the Basic Allowance should increase to £6,491 pa (to include £180 Broadband Allowance);

b) the Scheme should remain index linked to officers’ pay awards

c) the Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) for the Leader of the Council should remain calculated by way of a multiplier of x2 the basic allowance;

d) A new SRA for the Deputy Leader should be introduced, calculated by way of a multiplier of x1.6 the basic allowance

e) the SRA for Cabinet Members with Portfolio should remain calculated by way of a multiplier of x1.33 the basic allowance;

f) the SRA for Chairmen of Committees of the Council (except Development Committee, Licensing Committee and Standards Committee) should remain calculated by way of a multiplier of x0.67 the basic allowance;

g) the SRA for the Chairman of Development Committee to remain at x0.75 of the basic allowance, with the SRA for the Vice-chairman of Development Committee remaining at x0.25 of the basic allowance.

h) Payments for the Chairmen of Standards Committee and Licensing Committee should be based on a per meeting payment of 2% of the Basic Allowance

i) A new payment for Chairmen of Planning Policy & Built Heritage Working Party to be introduced based on a per meeting payment of 2% of the basic Allowance or £129.82.

j) SRA payments to leaders of the opposition groups should move to a flat SRA rather than being based on the number within the group.

k) The SRA for the Leader of the main opposition group should be calculated by a way of a multiplier of x0.4

l) The SRA for the Leader of the smaller opposition group should be calculated by means of a multiplier of x0.15

m) The SRA for the Chairman of the Council should remain the same and be calculated by means of a multiplier of x0.5, with the Vice-Chairman of the Council remaining on the multiplier of x0.25

n) Member champion roles should not receive an SRA but should be eligible for travel and subsistence payments

o) A role description should be produced for member champions and should be published on the Council’s website

p) A new ‘family and friends’ rate for carer’s allowance of up to £10 per hour should be introduced, to support councillors in their role and ensure no-one is disadvantaged by caring responsibilities.

q) The Democratic Services Manager to have delegation to consider payments for carers’ allowance on a case by case basis, allowing a higher rate in exceptional circumstances.

r) Travel and subsistence rates to remain the same.

s) Any temporary increases to staff mileage rates will also apply to members.

Reasons for recommendations

An independent review of the Councils Scheme of Members’ Allowances at least every 4 years, is a statutory requirement. Full Council must consider the recommendations of the IRP before reaching a decision.

Background papers

Previous IRP report February 2020

Comparison data from neighbouring authorities

Survey responses from members

Wards affected

All

Cabinet member(s)

Cllr T Adams

Contact Officer

Emma Denny, Democratic Services Manager

Emma.denny@north-norfolk.gov.uk

Links to key documents:
Corporate Plan:	Not applicable. A review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme is a statutory requirement.
Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)	N/A
Council Policies & Strategies	N/A

Corporate Governance:
Is this a key decision	No
Has the public interest test been applied	This item is not exempt.
Details of any previous decision(s) on this matter	Full Council, February 2020.

Minutes:

The Chairman invited Mr I Holden, Chair of the Independent Remuneration Panel to introduce this item. Mr Holden explained that purpose of the report was to recommend to Full Council the allowances and expenses to be paid to Members to take effect from 01 May 2024. In accordance with the requirements of the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003, the Council had set up an Independent Remuneration Panel at the meeting of Full Council held on 20 September 2023. Mr Holden thanked his fellow panel members, Ms S Cox and Mr D Blake for their input and support. He said that the previous panel had met in 2020, following a boundary review which had reduced the number of councillors from 48 to 40 and consequently, this was the first opportunity to review the impact of the changes on members and their workload.

Mr Holden said that the panel had met with two of the Group Leaders to obtain their views on various aspects of council-related work. In addition, a questionnaire had been sent out to all members to assess the impact of the ward boundary changes, travel and committee commitments as well as the cost of living crisis. The Panel had looked at a considerable amount of comparative data to ensure that their recommendations were in-line with neighbouring authorities.

In conclusion, Mr Holden reminded members that the next review of members’ allowances was likely to be in 2027/28 and that if members did not approve an increase now, it would be 12 years between increases, causing NNDC to lag behind neighbouring authorities.

The Chairman invited members to speak:

The Leader, Cllr T Adams, thanked the Panel for engaging with members throughout the process and for sharing the comparative data with the Group Leaders. He said that he was of the view that a national scale of members’ allowances should be introduced to ensure a consistent approach across local authorities and to take the decision away from members. He said that he felt the Panel had come to the correct conclusion, following a thorough process.

Cllr N Dixon, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group, thanked the Independent Remuneration Panel for their hard work. Group members would vote according to their views on the proposals.

It was proposed by Cllr T Adams, seconded by Cllr J Toye and

RESOLVED