Agenda item

To receive a report from the Independent Remuneration Panel on their review of Members’ Allowances.

RECOMMENDATION that Council agrees that:

1)        the time contributed component of the Basic Allowance be increased by 2% in line with the 2018/19 increase in Officer pay, and backdated to 1 April 2018;

2)        the £500 component of the Basic Allowance for the provision of IT should continue to be claimed only by those Members who provide facilities which allow constituents and Officers to communicate with them by e-mail and the self-certification process be continued; 

3)        the out of pocket expenses component of the Basic Allowance be reduced by £40 to allow for the mass registration of Members to the Information Commissioners Office by Wokingham Borough Council, from April 2019;

4)        the Leader of the Council’s SRA be increased to 4.5 x SRA = £22,500, from April 2019;

5)        the Leader of the Opposition SRA be restructured via a new formula whereby all opposition group leaders with a membership of more than 2 receive an SRA based in part on a figure of £100 per group member. In addition, if the lead opposition group has four or more members more than the next largest group, its leader should receive a further £5,000; but if the lead over the next largest group was less than 4 members the addition to the Leader of the Opposition’s SRA should be reduced to £4,000. In the event that there were two or three leading opposition groups, each with the same number of members, then £5000 should be distributed equally between them as well as the £100 per group member 

A condition of this formula should be that the gross cost of the SRA to all Groups should not exceed £8,000 (compared to the £7,500 now), and that in the event of any excess over £8,000 occurring, that excess should be deducted from the SRA granted to the Opposition Group leader with the fewest Members. These changes are recommended to be implemented from April 2019; 

6)        the budgeted cost covering SRAs for Executive Members and Deputy Executive Members be capped at the current level of £100,000;

7)        the Chairman of the Planning Committee’s SRA be increased to 1.2 x SRA = £6,000, and the SRA for Members of the Planning Committee SRA be increased to 0.3 x SRA = £1,500, from April 2019. A condition be agreed whereby there be a maximum budget of £18,000 for Chairman and Members of the Planning Committee;

8)        the Members Subsistence Allowance and Overnight Accommodation Allowance be amended as follows:

(i)  Overnight approved absence (from normal place of residence): 

Bed and Breakfast as charged by no higher than a 3 star hotel (with the exception that, if an approved conference takes place in a 4 star hotel with the expectation that attendees will stay at the same hotel, 4 star bed and breakfast is allowed).

(ii)  Daily subsistence (for more than four hours away from normal place of residence covering any meals or refreshments)up to a maximum of £25 receipted expenditure; 

9)        the publication of Members’ remuneration on the WBC website be reviewed with the intention that a single document be created and be accessible via an easy to find hyperlink, which would show for each Councillor all WBC related remunerations (Basic Allowance, SRA, NED remuneration and Outside Body (namely the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority) remuneration) received by that Member;

10)      the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral Allowances be included within the IRP’s remit, from April 2019;

11)      no changes be made to the current Childcare and Dependant Carers Allowance;

12)      apart from the above recommendations, no further adjustments to Members’ Remuneration are necessary until the next review by the Independent Remuneration Panel.

(John Kaiser resumed his position as Mayor and that of Chairman)

The Council considered the report of the Independent Review Panel (IRP), set out at Agenda pages 55 to 74, following their annual review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme.

The IRP Chairman, Tom Berman, addressed the Council and thanked his colleagues Nick Oxborough and David George for their contribution.  He also thanked Democratic Services, and in particular Callum Wernham, for their support to the Panel.

In presenting the report Mr Berman highlighted the following points:

·         The Panel was independent and their recommendations were based purely on: evidence and whether it was affordable; similar to that of other local authorities; and whether residents would consider the recommendation fair.  There had been accusations that the Panel was politically motivated but this was not the case.

·         The Panel had looked at the issue of Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA).  In doing this, the Panel had looked at the job descriptions for the different posts rather the individual post holders and had also visited committee meetings to see work first-hand. 

·         The Panel had recommended a revision to the SRA for the Leader of the Council, which had last been increased 9 years ago.  Mr Berman stated that the levels of responsibility of the Leader were similar to that of a Chairman within a high powered company.  Conversely the Leader of the Opposition did not have accountability in the decision making process, although it was appreciated that having a strong Opposition was important.

·         The Council was unusual in awarding SRAs to Deputy Executive Members.  The Panel recommended that the budgeted cost covering SRAs for Executive Members and Deputy Executive Members be capped at the current level of £100,000.

·         The Panel’s most valuable source of information had been the Members themselves.  Mr Berman expressed disappointment that less than half the Members had been to see the Panel to give their views over the last 2 years.

·         The remuneration of Non-Executive Directors and Outside Body representatives was outside of the Panel’s remit.

A number of Members thanked the Panel for their hard work and time. 

Several Members felt that it was the wrong time to increase the Members Allowances and that this would send a negative message to residents.  It was suggested that there be a cross party review of the Independent Remuneration Panel’s remit.

A number of Members were of the view that the Childcare and Dependents Allowance should be increased.

Pauline Jorgensen commented that it was important to have a properly resourced Opposition.  Prue Bray also emphasised the role of the Opposition, particularly given that there were now three parties.

It was clarified that the Panel’s report was required to be published prior to the meeting at which the report would be considered.

It was proposed by Pauline Jorgensen and seconded by Julian McGhee-Sumner that the report be considered.  It was agreed that each of the Panel’s recommendations would be voted on individually.

Upon being put to the vote it was:

RESOLVED:  That

1)      Recommendation 1, (that the time contributed component of the Basic Allowance be increased by 2% in line with the 2018/19 increase in Officer pay, and backdated to 1 April 2018), not be supported;

2)      The £500 component of the Basic Allowance for the provision of IT should continue to be claimed only by those Members who provide facilities which allow constituents and Officers to communicate with them by e-mail and the self-certification process be continued; 

3)      The out of pocket expenses component of the Basic Allowance be reduced by £40 to allow for the mass registration of Members to the Information Commissioners Office by Wokingham Borough Council, from April 2019;

4)      Recommendation 4 (that the Leader of the Council’s SRA be increased to 4.5 x SRA = £22,500, from April 2019), not be supported;

5)      Recommendation 5 (that the Leader of the Opposition SRA be restructured via a new formula whereby all opposition group leaders with a membership of more than 2 receive an SRA based in part on a figure of £100 per group member. In addition, if the lead opposition group has four or more members more than the next largest group, its leader should receive a further £5,000; but if the lead over the next largest group was less than 4 members the addition to the Leader of the Opposition’s SRA should be reduced to £4,000.  In the event that there were two or three leading opposition groups, each with the same number of members, then £5000 should be distributed equally between them as well as the £100 per group member 

A condition of this formula should be that the gross cost of the SRA to all Groups should not exceed £8,000 (compared to the £7,500 now), and that in the event of any excess over £8,000 occurring, that excess should be deducted from the SRA granted to the Opposition Group leader with the fewest Members.  These changes are recommended to be implemented from April 2019.)not be supported; 

6)      Recommendation 6 (that the budgeted cost covering SRAs for Executive Members and Deputy Executive Members be capped at the current level of £100,000), not be supported;

7)      Recommendation 7 (that the Chairman of the Planning Committee’s SRA be increased to 1.2 x SRA = £6,000, and the SRA for Members of the Planning Committee SRA be increased to 0.3 x SRA = £1,500, from April 2019.  A condition be agreed whereby there be a maximum budget of £18,000 for Chairman and Members of the Planning Committee) not be supported;

8)      Recommendation 8 (that the Members Subsistence Allowance and Overnight Accommodation Allowance be amended as follows:

(i)  Overnight approved absence (from normal place of residence): 

Bed and Breakfast as charged by no higher than a 3 star hotel (with the exception that, if an approved conference takes place in a 4 star hotel with the expectation that attendees will stay at the same hotel, 4 star bed and breakfast is allowed).

(ii)  Daily subsistence (for more than four hours away from normal place of residence covering any meals or refreshments)up to a maximum of £25 receipted expenditure) not be supported;

9)      The publication of Members’ remuneration on the WBC website be reviewed with the intention that a single document be created and be accessible via an easy to find hyperlink, which would show for each Councillor all WBC related remunerations (Basic Allowance, SRA, NED remuneration and Outside Body (namely the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority) remuneration) received by that Member;

10)    The Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral Allowances be included within the IRP’s remit, from April 2019;

11)    No changes be made to the current Childcare and Dependant Carers Allowance;

12)    Apart from the above recommendations, no further adjustments to Members’ Remuneration are necessary until the next review by the Independent Remuneration Panel.