Agenda item

The Independent Remuneration Panel will be attending the meeting to present its report on the eighth review undertaken of the Members’ Allowances Scheme. The Panel’s report will be circulated separately to the agenda.

 

The Chairman welcomed the Independent Remuneration Panel to the meeting and invited the Chairman of the Panel, John Thompson, to present the Panel’s Eighth Review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme. 

 

            Mr Thompson highlighted the main points of change and the background and rationale behind the review undertaken.  He explained that an erratum sheet had been distributed which drew Members’ attention to the fact that calculations for the Basic Allowance and the change in SRA payment to the Licensing Committee Chairman had been incorrectly recorded.

 

Mr Thompson explained that as a new Panel it had had to work to very tight timescales to conclude this review in time for this meeting.  Despite this, and the steep learning curve that the new members of the Panel had had to overcome, each member had brought energy, independence of mind and originality to the process.

 

            The Panel had undertaken interviews with a wide range of Members in addition to reviewing substantial data from the South East Employers and other Local Authorities.

           

            Mr Thompson highlighted the key points to the Committee, these have been summarised below:

 

§   The Basic Allowance – The most commonly expressed views werethat some Members did a lot more than others.  However, the only potential solution would be to introduce some form of allowance linked to attendance.  The legislation that was introduced in 2003 made it clear that the Basic Allowance could not be linked to attendance in this way. The Panel had therefore worked to the requirements of the law and the report explained the justification for their recommendation on the Basic Allowance.

§   Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) – The Panel took the approach, when making its recommendations, that SRAs were not about ‘people’ they specifically related to the role itself. The Committee was reminded that any Member could renounce all or part of an allowance at any time.

§   The Leader of the Council’s SRA– The Panel had focused on the full extent of responsibilities and the hours that this role demanded. They considered it was important to adequately reward the Leader so as to attract strong candidates in the future to this high profile role.

 

            The Chairman proposed to take each recommendation in turn to allow full debate.  This approach was agreed by the Committee.

 

            The Committee supported the recommendations put forward by the Panel in terms of Recommendations 1 to 7:

           

§  Basic Allowance for all Members – recommendation (1)

§  Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) – recommendation (2)

§  Leader of the Council’s SRA – recommendation (3)

§  Deputy Leader Remuneration– recommendation (4)

§  Cabinet Members Remuneration – recommendation (5)

§  Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Council’s SRA – recommendation (6)

§  Development Control Members SRA – recommendation (7)

 

            Concern was however expressed in relation to the following recommendations:

 

Licensing Committee Chairman and Vice-Chairman – Recommendation (8)

The proposal was for the SRA payable to the Chairman of the Licensing Committee to be decreased from £4,000 to £2,000 and for the Vice-Chairman from £1,200 to £600.  There was concern at this proposal based on whether the Panel had taken account sufficiently of the workload and training requirements for this Committee, particularly from some recent meetings of the Licensing Sub-Committee that had been complex and contentious.   The Panel was therefore asked to review this aspect of the report so it could be reconsidered by the Committee.

 

Members of the Licensing Committee – Recommendation (9)

The proposal was that the SRA payable to a Member of the Licensing Committee should be abolished and replaced with an allowance of £60 per meeting exceeding half a day in duration also payable to named substitute Members.  The Committee received advice from the Chief Executive that the legislation did not allow a meeting allowance for a regular additional responsibility such as Members of this Committee held, as this went against the principle of attendance allowances not being permissible.  Further, it was felt that this recommendation did not take account of the mandatory training that Members and substitute Members were required to undertake in order to serve on the Committee.   It was therefore proposed to the Panel that they revisit this recommendation and consider an alternative proposal in line with the principles that had been applied to Members of the Development Control Committee.

 

The Committee supported the Recommendations put forward by the Panel in terms of Recommendations 10 to 19:

§  Chairman and Vice Chairman of Overview Scrutiny Committee SRA  – recommendation (10)

§  The Co-opted persons allowance – recommendation (11)

§  Chairman and Vice Chairman of Audit & Governance SRA – recommendation (12)

§  Chairman and Vice Chairman of Standards Committee SRA – recommendation (13)

§  Independent Persons meeting allowance – recommendation (14)

§  Leader of the largest opposition group SRA  – recommendation (15)

§  Leader of the smaller minority groups SRA – recommendation (16)

§  Allowance paid to minority groups – recommendation (17)

§  IT Allowance – recommendation (18)

§  Meeting allowance for Co-opted members and witnesses – recommendation (19)

 

Concern was however expressed in relation to the following recommendation:

 

Carers’ Allowance for Members - Recommendation Number 20.

The proposal was that the Carers Allowance of £10 per hour up to a maximum of 20 hours a month be replaced by a Child Care allowance of £10 an hour; the Dependent Adult allowance be linked to the Home Care rate paid by West Sussex County Council and no limit be placed on the number of hours it is claimed for either allowance.

 

Whilst the Committee commended the Panel on what it was trying to achieve with this recommendation in that it was paying particular reference to its Terms of Reference ‘the need to attract and retain Members of appropriate calibre and representative of the demographic make-up of the district’, it was felt that a complete re-think was needed. This was mainly due to the point that the rate per hour under this current recommendation equated to £18.49 and this had clear budget implications that had not been considered in the Panel’s report.  Also, the proposed removal of the 20 hour cap that could be claimed was a point for concern as it was felt that a limit was appropriate with a discretion that included that cases above that limit could be considered by a designated Officer. The Committee requested that the Panel reconsider this aspect of the report and report back with further proposals.

           

§  At this point, Councillor Wheal proposed that the Panel’s review be deferred.  In the absence of a seconder this proposal was not debated.

 

The Chairman summarised that the Committee had supported most of the recommendations within the Panel’sreport. However, in view of the referral back on three of the recommendations it was then suggested to refer the report back to the Panel asking it to undertake further work and to provide further context and evidence against the three recommendations highlighted.

 

The Chairman outlined that any scheme proposed for allowances must be appropriate for the Council and affordable in relation to Budget provision.

 

Based on this, Councillor Wheal proposed this course of action and this was seconded by Councillor Blampied.  On this being put to the vote it was declared CARRIED.

 

The Group Head of Council Advice & Monitoring Officer clarified that deferring the Panel’s report would mean that it would not be possible for it to be considered at the next meeting of Full Council on 13 March 2019. 

 

In view of the work to be undertaken and to ensure that Access to Information Rules were abided by, it was proposed that the revised report be resubmitted to a Special Meeting of the Committee to be convened in  June/July so that recommendations could be considered at Full Council on 17 July 2019. The Committee and the Panel was advised that this would not prevent the new regime of allowances still being able to be effective from 7 May 2019 as the 2003 Act allowed the Committee to agree that its scheme of allowances be backdated as long as this was within the current financial year.

 

            The Committee then supported the recommendations put forward by the Panel in terms of Recommendations 21 to 33:

           

§  Regulations to be added to the Members Allowance Scheme  – recommendation (21)

§  List of specified duties to be added to the Members Allowance Scheme – recommendation (22)

§  The availability of this allowance and the procedure for claiming be more visible – recommendation (23)

§  Request maternity, paternity and adoption arrangements – recommendation (24)

§  Town and Parish Council contribution to the Arun District Council Basic Allowance for their Members – recommendation (25)

§  Special Responsibility payments to be increased – recommendation (26)

§  Remunerations received by members, Co-opted Members, Independent persons to be linked to Officers’ pay annually – recommendation (27)

§  Travel and Subsistence arrangements and rates – recommendation (28)

§  Multiple SRA payments – recommendation (29)

§  Continuous absence of a Chairman or Vice Chairman for two months or more – recommendation (30)

§  Suspension of allowances – recommendation (31)

§  The next Review of the Arun District Council Members’ Allowances Scheme – recommendation (32)

§  The new allowances scheme is effective from 7 May 2019 – recommendation (33)

 

The Chairman asked the Panel if it wished to present any closing remarks. Mr Thompson responded stating that it was disappointing that the report had not been accepted as this meant that there were only three recommendations requiring additional work. However, speaking on behalf of the Panel it was accepted that the Panel would need to review the recommendations identified and to provide further information to the Committee before any final recommendations could be made to Full Council.  

The Chairman thanked the Panel again for its hard work in submitting its report in such a short amount of time.

 

The Committee then

 

RESOLVED   

 

That the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel on its Eighth review of the Members Allowances Scheme be deferred to enable the Panel to undertake further work on Recommendations (8), (9) and (20) with a revised report being submitted to a Special Meeting of the Committee, to be convened in June/July 2019 so that recommendations could be reported to the Full Council meeting on 17 July 2019.