Report CSD20005

The regulations governing Members’ Allowances required that, before the beginning of each financial year, the Council should make a scheme of allowances for that year, and the report detailed the proposed allowances for 2019/20. The allowances had remained frozen since 2009 due to the economic circumstances and the pressure on the Council’s budgets, and most Members considered that it was now reasonable to allow an increase. The Chairman noted in particular that the allowances for the Leader and Portfolio Holders were considerably below the levels recommended by the 2018 London Councils Independent Panel recommendation.

The Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral Allowances were not part of the scheme, but were usually considered in conjunction with it.

The Chairman read out the following statement:

“The report suggests that if Members are minded to increase the allowances, then a reasonable guide would be that they increase in line with the proposed increase to staff salaries (2.5%).

In addition, the Majority Group propose to increase the Leader’s Allowance to £40,000 to reflect average parity with other London Boroughs and to reflect the extent of responsibility, pressures and competencies required for the job. It is proposed that the Leaders of the Opposition parties will receive the same percentage increase as the Leader.

The additional cost is £10.7k pa, which can be found from within existing budgets.”

The following amended recommendation was proposed:

“That Council be recommended to approve the Members Allowances Scheme 2020/21 and the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral Allowances, on the basis of a 2.5% increase in all allowances, in line with the recommended increase for Council staff, with the allowance for the Leader of the Council increased to £40,000 and the allowances for the Leaders of the minority groups increased by similar percentages to £9,333 and £4,667.” 

Councillor Allen reported that the Labour Group on the Council had not intended to support the raising of Member Allowances and certainly would not support the amended recommendation. Councillor King noted that if Member allowances were not raised in this way, the £10,700 saved could be used to fund the extra 15p for staff whose salaries fell below the London Living Wage.

Other members of the Committee noted the importance of ensuring that Members Allowances kept pace with increases in average earnings.  In respect of the Special Responsibility allowance for the Leader, it was noted that the role came with significant personal responsibility and if it were an industry based role the remuneration would be significantly higher. 

Members noted that if allowances were set too low, a large number of people would be deterred from seeking elected office and in particular post holders with special responsibilities would be restricted to individuals who were either retired or those who were independently wealthy and would not represent a broad cross section of the residents represented by the Council. It was also noted that the allowances were an indication of the level required for the post and individuals were able to choose whether or not they claimed the allowance.

The proposed recommendations were put to the vote:

In favour  13

Against  2

The motion was therefore CARRIED

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to approve the Members Allowances Scheme 2020/21 and the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral Allowances, on the basis of a 2.5% increase in all allowances, in line with the recommended increase for Council staff, with the allowance for the Leader of the Council increased to £40,000 and the allowances for the Leaders of the minority groups increased by similar percentages to £9,333 and £4,667.