Agenda item

REPORT OF THE DEMOCRATIC SERVICES MANAGER

 

To agree the Member’s Allowances Scheme 2025/2026 having taken into account the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel (‘IRP’) and consider applying an indexation to the Scheme through to 31 March 2029.

RESOLVED: That Council

 

(1)   Considered the report and recommendations of the IRP, as attached as Appendix A of the submitted report.

 

(2)   Agreed the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2025/2026 as set out in Appendix B, amended as per tracked with specified indexation has been applied for up to the next four years, through to 31 March 2029, subject to a freeze to any increase in Special Responsibility Allowances for 2025/2026. (From 1 April 2026 the Special Responsibility Allowances, as identified by the IRP in Recommendation 12 of their report,  will be index linked.)

 

(3)   Expressed appreciation to the IRP for their work over the last year on this report.

 

REASONS FOR DECISION: To ensure that the Council meets its statutory requirements of an annual review and adoption of the scheme.

Audio recording – 20 minutes 37 seconds

 

The Democratic Service Manager introduced the report entitled ‘Review of Members Allowances Scheme’ and advised that:

 

·       The Council was currently required to agree on an annual basis, a Scheme of Allowances payable to members for the following financial year. The current Scheme was approved by Council in January 2024.

·       Under the regulations when making or accepting a scheme the Council shall have regard to the recommendations of the Independent Renumeration Panel (IRP).

·       The scheme being purposed by the IRP included an annual indexation therefore if approved would l not require a review until 2028, post the next scheduled District Council elections.

 

The Chair invited Ms. Margaret Waller, as Chair of the IRP to present their report. Ms. Waller highlighted the following, that:

 

·       Remuneration should not be seen as an incentive to service nor should the lack of it be seen as a barrier to participation.

·       The proposals included within this report aimed to depoliticise the process of Member allowances.

·       The increase to the basic allowance of 4.1% was in line with Council staff pay award and that for the next three years all basic allowance increases would be in line with Council staff pay award.

·       The new basic allowance would be £5,999, which was slightly below average for neighboring councils.

·       One of the options looked at was increasing basic allowance in line with inflation. However, this was discarded as it would not close the gap identified by the baseline evaluation.

·       The IRP looked at benchmarking payments for Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA) against national figures for councils with similar workloads, as detailed in the data at Appendix 2 and 4.

·       Childcare and Dependent Care Allowances were recommended to increase annually in line with the October 2024 London weighted Real Living Wage of £13.85 per hour.

·       Travel and subsistence rates would remain the same.  However, it was proposed that Councillor could now claim expenses for a taxi on exceptions where no other public transport was available.

 

The following members asked questions:

 

·       Councillor Matt Barnes

·       Councillor Alistair Willoughby

 

In response to questions, the IRP Chair advised that:

 

·       The IRP did not enquire about the Councils budget forecast as the report was based purely on review findings.

·       The SRA for the Chair of Standards was not raised within the survey and therefore had not been considered for an increase within this review.

 

The Chair advised that each recommendation would be taken individually.

 

Councillor Daniel Allen proposed recommendation 2.1, Councillor Tina Bhartwas seconded and, following a vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED: That the Council considered the report and recommendations of the IRP, as attached as Appendix A of the submitted report.

 

Councillor Daniel Allen proposed recommendation 2.2, and Councillor Val Bryant seconded.

 

Councillor Ralph Muncer proposed an amendment to freeze both the Basic Allowance and Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA) for the 2025/26 financial year. Councillor David Barnard seconded the amendment.

 

The following members took part in the debate about the amendment:

 

·       Councillor Nigel Mason

·       Councillor Ian Albert

·       Councillor David Barnard

·       Councillor Matt Barnes

 

The following was raised during the debate:

 

·       The Council ask for the view of an IRP and in most cases getting independent advice would make debate limited.

·       The time for a freeze in allowances was in the past, when Council staff were experiencing a pay freeze.

 

Having been proposed and seconded, a recorded vote having been requested, the amendment was LOST  the result was as follows:

 

YES:                5

ABSTAIN:       18

NO:                  21

TOTAL:           44

 

The individual results were as follows:

 

Cllr Ian Albert                                                 NO

Cllr Amy Allen                                                NO

Cllr Daniel Allen                                             NO

Cllr David Barnard                                          YES

Cllr Matt Barnes                                             ABSTAIN

Cllr Tina Bhartwas                                          NO

Cllr Clare Billing                                             NO

Cllr Sadie Billing                                             NO

Cllr Ruth Brown                                              ABSTAIN

Cllr Cathy Brownjohn                                     NO

Cllr Val Bryant                                                NO

Cllr David Chalmers                                       ABSTAIN

Cllr Jon Clayden                                             ABSTAIN

Cllr Ruth Clifton                                              ABSTAIN

Cllr Mick Debenham                                       NO

Cllr Elizabeth Dennis                                      ABSTAIN

Cllr Emma Fernandes                                    NO

Cllr Joe Graziano                                           YES

Cllr Keith Hoskins                                           ABSTAIN

Cllr Steve Jarvis                                             ABSTAIN

Cllr Tim Johnson                                            ABSTAIN

Cllr Chris Lucas                                              ABSTAIN

Cllr Ian Mantle                                                NO

Cllr Nigel Mason                                             NO

Cllr Bryony May                                              ABSTAIN

Cllr Caroline McDonnell                                 ABSTAIN

Cllr Ralph Muncer                                          YES

Cllr Lisa Nash                                                 ABSTAIN

Cllr Sean Nolan                                              NO

Cllr Louise Peace                                           ABSTAIN

Cllr Vijaiya Poopalasingham                         NO

Cllr Sean Prendergast                                    ABSTAIN

Cllr Martin Prescott                                        YES

Cllr Emma Rowe                                            NO

Cllr Claire Strong                                            YES

Cllr Tom Tyson                                               ABSTAIN

Cllr Paul Ward                                                ABSTAIN

Cllr Laura Williams                                         NO

Cllr Alistair Willoughby                                   NO

Cllr Stewart Willoughby                                  NO

Cllr Claire Winchester                                    ABSTAIN

Cllr Dave Winstanley                                      NO

Cllr Donna Wright                                           NO

Cllr Daniel Wright-Mason                               NO

 

 

Councillor Alistair Willoughby proposed an amendment to the original motion of a freeze to SRA’s at their current rate for the year 2025/26 only, which was seconded by Councillor Nigel Mason.

 

The following members took part in the debate on the amendment:

 

·       Councillor Ralph Muncer

·       Councillor Daniel Allen

·       Councillor Laura Williams

·       Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham

·       Councillor Tim Johnson

·       Councillor David Barnard

·       Councillor Ian Albert

·       Councillor Nigel Mason

 

The following was raised during the debate:

 

·       The report was produced by an independent panel and the council should accept their assessment.

·       The amendment still recommended an increase to the basic allowance pay rise for all Members, which may not be well received by the public, especially those that were struggling financially.

·       Councillors came from different backgrounds and to continue to promote and encourage a diverse Council it must be accessible for all; this recommendation struck the balance between being access while not overpaying.

·       An increase in bus fares, train fares and a loss of winter fuel allowances has affected pensioners, this was an issue for the public but also Members of pension age.

·       The Member pay rise would be in line with Officers at the Council.

 

Following a vote the amendment was CARRIED.

 

There was no further debate on the substantive motion.

 

Following a vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED: That Council agreed the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2025/2026 as set out in Appendix B, amended as per tracked with specified indexation has been applied for up to the next four years, through to 31 March 2029, subject to a freeze to any increase in Special Responsibility Allowances for 2025/2026.  (From 1 April 2026 the Special Responsibility Allowances, as identified by the IRP in Recommendation 12 of their report will be index linked).

 

Councillor Daniel Allen proposed recommendation 2.3, Councillor Val Bryant seconded and, following a vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED: The Council expressed appreciation to the IRP for their work over the last year on this report.

 

REASONS FOR DECISION: To ensure that the Council meets its statutory requirements of an annual review and adoption of the scheme.

 

N.B. Following the conclusion of this Item, Councillor Sadie Billing left the Chamber and returned at 21.00.