Agenda item

To consider a report of the Clerk regarding the HFRA Members’ Allowances Scheme

The Committee considered the report of the Clerk regarding the Authority’s Members’ Allowances Scheme.

The report was introduced and the process of reviewing and updating the Scheme was noted. The Committee recognised the input from Independent Remuneration Panel members and also noted that all Members of the Authority had been given the opportunity to offer comments on the recommendations.

It was acknowledged that the recommendations in the report included for the Committee to identify a number of Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA) for recommendation to the full Authority. With this in mind an amendment to paragraph 8.2 was proposed by Cllr Stubbs and seconded by Cllr Chadd. An additional recommendation for a review of the SRA for the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Standards and Governance Committee was proposed at 8.5. A vote was held and both the amendment and additional recommendation were unanimously agreed.

The Committee was supportive of the concept of recommending an index for the annual adjustment of allowances, to facilitate a multi-year Scheme. It was noted that further definition of how to apply the national local government pay award would avoid potential ambiguity in the future and agreed that this should be provided for the decision of the Full Authority.

Taking into account the agreed amendment to 8.2 and the additional 8.5, the recommendations were considered and it was resolved:

1.    That noting and having regard to the outcomes of the review of Members’ Allowances by the Working Group, including the input of IRP members, as set out in the report, the Standards and Governance Committee RECOMMEND to the Full Authority the adoption of an updated Members’ Allowances Scheme consisting of:

1.1  A Basic Allowance of £6000 per Member, per annum.

1.2  Special Responsibility Allowances for each role as set out below:

* Principal Opposition Spokesperson being the nominated spokesperson for the largest opposition Group. Should there be multiple opposition Groups of equal size, the nominated spokespersons to share equally the combined allowances for a “Principal” and “Other” spokesperson i.e 0.3125 x Basic each. For this purpose, an opposition Group has no minimum size and may consist of a single Member.

Should a Member be appointed to more than one role for which an SRA is

payable, only one (the higher) SRA may be claimed.

1.3  Increases in the rate of Allowances to be indexed according to the national Local Government Pay Award for a period up to the end of the financial year 2020/21.

1.4  Payment of allowances under the Scheme (including appropriate adjustments to take into account payments already received) to be backdated to 13 June 2017.

1.5  That the SRA for the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Standards and Governance Committee be reviewed in the 2018/19 municipal year, when a more accurate assessment of the workload for the Committee is possible.