Issue - meetings

12 Month Review of Schedule of Councillors' Allowances to be undertaken by Joint Independent Remuneration Panel

Meeting: 03/12/2024 - Council (Item 66)

66 Review of Councillors' Allowances (including 12-month update) pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered the report and recommendations of the Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) on its review of Councillors’ Allowances, together with the separate recommendations of the Executive.  The Council had appointed the IRP for the purpose of reviewing the existing scheme of allowances, including making recommendations on the types of allowance and amounts to be paid.

 

The Lead Councillor for Regulatory and Democratic Services, Councillor Merel Rehorst-Smith proposed, and the Leader of the Council, Councillor Julia McShane, seconded a motion to adopt the IRP’s recommendations, as amended by the Executive.

Having considered the report including the Executive’s recommendations and, having regard to the recommendations of the IRP, the Council  

RESOLVED: 

(1)         That the Basic Allowance payable to all members of Guildford Borough Council be £8,579 per annum.

 

(2)    That no councillor shall be entitled to receive at any time more than two Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs), and that where a councillor would otherwise be entitled to three or more SRAs, then only the two higher-valued allowancesshould be received, and that this ‘Two SRA Only Rule’ be adopted into the Scheme of Allowances.

 

(3)         That the maximum number of recipients of SRAs at any one time does not exceed 50% of Council Members (24 Members).

 

(4)         That the Leader of the Council should receive a Tier One Special Responsibility Allowance of 200% of the Basic Allowance, £17,158 per annum.

 

(5)         That the Deputy Leader should receive a Tier Two Special Responsibility Allowance of 100% of the Basic Allowance, £8,579 per annum.

 

(6)         That the Members of the Executive (excluding the Leader and Deputy Leader), the Chair of the Planning Committee, should each receive a Tier Three Special Responsibility Allowance of 75% of the Basic Allowance, £6,434 per annum.

 

(7)         That the level of the Mayor’s Special Responsibility Allowance should also be at Tier Three (75% of the Basic Allowance, £6,434 per annum) for 2025-26 and that this allowance be reviewed again by the Independent Remuneration Panel in 12 months’ time.

 

(8)         (a) That the Chairs of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees and the Corporate Governance and Standards Committee, and Political Group Leaders (of groups comprising more than 10% of members overall) should each receive a Tier Four Special Responsibility Allowance of 50% of the Basic Allowance, £4,290 per annum.

 

(b) That, subject to the Council’s approval of the proposed new committees in agenda item 11 below, a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) be paid to each of the chairs of those committees equivalent to the level of SRA to be paid to the chair of the Corporate Governance & Standards Committee (Tier Four) with effect from the beginning of the 2025-26 municipal year, and that the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel be requested to submit further recommendations to the Council in 12 months’ time as to the appropriate levels of SRA payable in respect of the chairs of those committees.

(9)         That the Chair of the Licensing Committee, the Deputy Mayor, the Vice-Chair of the Planning Committee, and Political Group Leaders (of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66


Meeting: 28/11/2024 - Executive (Item 68)

68 Review of Councillors' Allowances (including 12-month update) pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

Decision:

To approve the following recommendation to full Council at its meeting on 3 December 2024:  

 

That the Council adopts the recommendations of the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel, as set out in the report submitted to the Executive, subject to the amendment of recommendations (2), (4) and (16) as follows:

 

(2)    That no councillor shall be entitled to receive at any time more than one two Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs), and that where a councillor would otherwise be entitled to two three or more SRAs, then only the two higher-valued allowancesshould be received, and that this ‘Two SRA Only Rule’ be adopted into the Scheme of Allowances.

 

(4)     That the Leader of the Council should receive a Tier One Special Responsibility Allowance of 250% 200% of the Basic Allowance, £21,448 £17,158 per annum.

 

(16)    That, subject to a further review by the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel in 12 months’ time, a new Dependants’ Carers’ Allowance be included in the scheme of allowances as follows:

            Level 1 (a) – A £500 annual allowance for Councillors where there is one or more children aged 12 or younger that normally reside in their household and for whom they are caring.  This allowance would only be payable until the child’s 13th birthday.  This allowance would be taxable.

 

Level 1 (b) – A £500 annual allowance for Councillors where there is one or more persons that normally reside in their household and for whom they are a registered carer.  This allowance would be taxable.

 

Level 1 – This will be paid to those councillors who necessarily incur expense in arranging for general care of (i) their children, aged 13 or under, or (ii) one or more persons that normally reside in their household and for whom they are a registered carer, to enable them to undertake any approved duty, up to a maximum of £500 per annum per councillor. The allowance shall be paid as a re-imbursement of incurred expenditure against receipts.

Level 2 – This shall be for specialist care based at cost upon production of receipts and requiring medical evidence that this type of care is required.  This allowance would not be taxable and shall apply for councillors with caring responsibility for persons of any age.  There shall be no limit to these claims, provided that they are made in respect of approved duties.  

Reason(s):

In order to comply with the requirements of The Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 (as amended).

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

To accept paragraphs 2, 4 and 16 of the Joint IRP report as presented.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

Minutes:

During the autumn of 2023, the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) conducted its review of the Scheme of Councillors Allowances.  On 5 December 2023, the Panel submitted its final report with recommendations to full Council for consideration. In view of the Council’s financial position at the time and the Council’s determination to address those challenges, it was resolved to defer consideration of the report for a period of 12 months and to retain the existing scheme of allowances without indexation. This resolution effectively froze councillors’ allowances at their 2023 level for the 2024-25 financial year.

The Executive considered the resubmitted report along with a supplementary short report in which the IRP addressed certain changes to the Council’s committee structure in the previous twelve months.

Mr Dennis Frost, Chairman of the IRP, and Panel member Mr Paul Marcus were in attendance. Mr Frost spoke to the report and took questions.

Additional legal advice and an alternative recommendation in respect of level 1 of the Dependent’s Carers Allowance (DCA) was set out in the Supplementary Information Sheet. The original recommendation made by the IRP that proposed a lump sum payable in advance would not be compliant with regulations. It was explained that the alternative recommendation was the same as the IRPs in view of the fact that it proposed an upper limit of £500 claimable per year but was retrospective and on submission of valid receipts.

It was observed that the DCA was taxable income and an upper limit of £500 pre-tax for those members with extensive council business commitments might prove insufficient. It was proposed any limit set be reviewed by the IRP at an appropriate point.

The Executive noted that on 3 December Full Council would consider further alterations to the structure of committees in respect of the proposed split of the Corporate Governance and Standards Committee into two new committees. Should Full Council agree to such, it was suggested a suitable remuneration arrangement was in place from the new municipal year with a schedule for the IRP to review this remuneration at an appropriate point.

The Executive proposed three amendments to the IRPs recommendations as set in the published report and consequently,

RESOLVED:

To approve the following recommendation to full Council at its meeting on 3 December 2024:  

 

That the Council adopts the recommendations of the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel, as set out in the report submitted to the Executive, subject to the amendment of recommendations (2), (4) and (16) as follows:

 

(2)    That no councillor shall be entitled to receive at any time more than one two Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs), and that where a councillor would otherwise be entitled to two three or more SRAs, then only the two higher-valued allowancesshould be received, and that this ‘Two SRA Only Rule’ be adopted into the Scheme of Allowances.

 

(4)     That the Leader of the Council should receive a Tier One Special Responsibility Allowance of 250% 200% of the Basic Allowance, £21,448 £17,158 per  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68


Meeting: 05/12/2023 - Council (Item 75)

75 Review of Councillors' Allowances 2023 pdf icon PDF 104 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered the report and recommendations of the Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) on its recent review of Councillors’ Allowances, together with the separate recommendation of the Executive.  The Council had appointed the IRP for the purpose of reviewing the existing scheme of allowances, including making recommendations on the types of allowance and amounts to be paid.  

The report has also been considered by the Executive, at its meeting on 23 November 2023.  The Executive felt that in view of the Council’s current financial position, it would not be appropriate to consider any increase in councillors’ allowances.  

Upon the motion of the Lead Councillor for Finance and Property, Councillor Richard Lucas, seconded by the Lead Councillor for Regulatory and Democratic Services, Councillor Merel Rehorst-Smith, the Council commended the IRP’s very thorough report and some of the innovative proposals therein, and

RESOLVED:  That the Council:

(1)         defers consideration of the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel on the review of councillors’ allowances for a period of 12 months;

(2)         retains the current scheme of allowances without indexation, which effectively freezes councillors’ allowances at their current level for the 2024-25 financial year; and

(3)         thanks the Independent Remuneration Panel for their work.

Reason:

In view of the Council’s current financial position and the Council’s determination to resolve those difficulties, now was not the right time to be increasing councillors’ allowances.

 


Meeting: 23/11/2023 - Executive (Item 32)

32 Review of Councillors' Allowances: Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel pdf icon PDF 144 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

Recommendation to full Council (5 December 2023):

That the Council:

(1)     defers consideration of the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel on the review of councillors’ allowances for a period of 12 months;

(2)     retains the current scheme of allowances without indexation, which effectively freezes councillors’ allowances at their current level for the 2024-25 financial year; and

(3)     thanks the Independent Remuneration Panel for their work.

Reason:

In view of the current situation with regard to the Council’s current financial position and the Council’s determination to resolve those difficulties, now was not the right time to be increasing councillors’ allowances.

Minutes:

The Council appointed an Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) – jointly with Waverley in October 2022 to review the existing scheme of councillors’ allowances and make recommendations for a new scheme.  On 2 November 2023, the IRP concluded its review and the Executive received its report and recommendations which were attached as Appendix 1. 

The Leader highlighted the correction set out in the Supplementary Information Sheet. On page 20 of the agenda, the figure quoted as the Employers’ National Insurance contribution in the table in paragraph 9.1 (Financial Implications) was incorrect.  It should have read “£18,153”. 

The Chairman of the IRP, Dennis Frost, was in attendance along with Panel member Rodney Bates (in remote attendance) to speak to the report. Mr Frost set out his experience of working on other IRPs and the experience of the other panel members. He had been a member of the Guildford IRP which last reviewed the scheme in 2019. Mr Frost thanked officers for their support to the IRP.

During the course of its review, the IRP had received and considered twenty-five completed questionnaires from members and had interviewed fourteen members to arrive at the final recommendations which included a rise in the Public Service Discount (PSD) from 35% to 40% and a 2.5% increase to the Basic Allowance (BA). If adopted, this would be the highest BA of all of the Surrey districts and boroughs. The IRP argued this was justified when taking in account the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) median hourly rate for Guildford and the average number of hours that Guildford members spent undertaking council business. It was noted that the hourly rate for Guildford had risen by over 12% in the past year.

There were recommended changes to some of the Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) awarded to councillors undertaking additional roles such as the Leadership, portfolio holders, chairs and vice chairs of the various committees, notably an increase in the Leader’s Allowance to 250% of the BA and a small reduction for portfolio holders. The IRP had taken a particular interest in how the role of the Mayor was supported through the Allowances Scheme and sought to spend more time looking in depth at this role with a view to reporting back in a year’s time. The Panel recommended the Council adopt a scheme where a councillor could only receive one SRA, as this was described as fair and best practice.

 

Mr Frost observed the demographic of the membership had changed since 2019 and consequently there was a different recommendation for the Dependent Carers’ Allowance (DCA) than in 2019. The Panel had recommended a new level which was an alternative lump sum of £500 be made available annually to parents of children under 12 years old and to registered carers rather than the submission of a series of claims and small expenses payments throughout the year. This was described as fair and equitable and less bureaucratic.

The Panel judged its recommendations to the council as an overall  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32