Members Allowances
As part of it's modernising agenda for local government, the Government has required local authorities to draw up a new constitution to govern the way in which they implement their statutory responsibilities and make their own policies. In doing so they have also been required to establish new schemes for paying allowances to councillors for carrying out their duties as elected representatives. In order to do this councils were encouraged to establish an independent panel drawn from the local community to recommend a new scheme and keep it under review.
On 31 January 2008, the Full Council considered the recommendations from the Independent Remuneration Panel and determined that the following new Members' Allowances Scheme should be implemented from 1st April 2008. The Allowances shown apply from 1 April 2008 and all will be increased in line with the specified inflation measures from 1 April 2009.
The new scheme provides for a Basic Allowance, which must be the same for all councillors. The Council determined that this allowance would be £3,564 per annum from 01/04/2008.
In addition Special Responsibility Allowances have been agreed for certain designated councillors to recognise their additional responsibilities. They are recommended with the general proviso that no Councillor may claim more than one Special Responsibility Allowance, except that Group Leaders should be entitled to a Special Responsibility Allowance for that purpose as well as any other to which they were entitled. The allowances applicable from 01/04/2008 are displayed in the table below.
| Responsibility | Price |
|---|---|
| Leader | £14,256.00 |
| Deputy Leader | £1,782.00 |
| Cabinet Members | £7,128.00 |
| Group Leaders - Conservative (Payable in respect of a group of two or more Members) | £2,916.00 |
| Group Leaders - Labour (Payable in respect of a group of two or more Members) | £582.00 |
| Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Committees | £5,346.00 |
| Chairman of Audit Committee | £5,346.00 |
| Chairman of Planning Committee | £5,346.00 |
| Chairman of Licensing Committee | £5,346.00 |
| Chairman of Standards Committee | £1,782.00 |
| Mayor (in addition to the Mayor's Civic Allowance) | £1,782.00 |
Councillors will also be able to claim travel and subsistence allowances and a contribution towards the costs incurred in caring for dependent relatives when they are engaged on official duties.
Full details of allowances that may be claimed by councillors can be found within the Council's Constitution.
Full details of the allowances paid to councillors for the period 1st April 2008 to 31st March 2009 can be found on Members Allowances 2008 - 2009.
