Agenda item

To consider a report by the Democratic Services Manager (copy enclosed) in respect of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales’s decisions for 2023 – 2024 relating to payments to members and co-opted members.

 

The Lead Member for Corporate Strategy, Policy and Equalities, Councillor Julie Matthews, introduced this item on the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales Annual Report 2023 – 2024.

 

The committee was informed that the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) was a body established by the Welsh Government which sets out decisions and certain options for councils’ policies of payments and support to elected and lay-members. The previous month the Panel had published its Annual Report for the new financial year which started in April.

 

The committee was reminded of the IRPW’s designation of roles that were remunerated by basic, senior and civic salaries, and the rules around the payment of these salaries such as the council size groupings which the IRPW used to set payment levels.          

 

Members were advised that:

 

·       Councillors would receive an increase of 4.76% in their basic allowances, which increased basic salaries by £800 to £17,600.

 

·       The senior salaries for the Cabinet have received the full 4.76% increase, that is that both the basic salary and the senior salary for Cabinet duties elements have been increased by that amount.

 

·       The role element for committee chairs and the leader of the largest opposition group have been increased by 3.15% as has the Civic Salary element for the Chair of Council.

 

·       The civic salary for the Vice Chair of Council had received only the increase to the basic salary.

 

In terms of the lay or co-opted members, the committee was advised that the IRPW had not changed the rules or the amounts payable. The Democratic Services Manager outlined that:

 

·       Co-opted voting members received a set daily or half daily fee according to the time commitment involved.

 

·       Meetings eligible for the payment of a fee included committee meetings, working groups, briefings and training to which co-opted members had been requested to attend.

 

·       The Panel allowed reasonable preparation time and any travel time to be claimed.

 

·       The Council could decide on the maximum number of days for which co-opted members may be paid in any one year.

 

·       The Panel allowed each council to decide on what was reasonable in determining what a full-day rate covered.

 

·       Denbighshire had not set a cap on the number of days that could be claimed for payment, but it did use a single ‘full day’ rate to be the maximum that could be claimed for a single meeting or event attended, which included any preparation and travel time.

 

·       The half daily fee was paid for any eligible time commitment of up to 4 hours.

 

The Democratic Services Manager reported that the committee’s views were sought on whether the council should retain or change its approach (within the parameters allowed by the IRPW) to the payment of the full-day rate to co-opted members.

 

Members focussed their discussion on the issue of payments to co-opted members, particularly in respect of the following points:

 

·       The Council’s approach to co-opted members’ payments should not be a barrier to recruiting and retaining effective voting co-opted members.

 

·       The voting co-opted members covered the Standards Committee, the Governance and Audit Committee, the Scrutiny committees and sat on some internal panels. Given the range of duties being undertaken it could be worth exploring whether the Council could vary the half and full day payments according to the demands of the duties, committee or panel.

 

·       The effect on the Council’s finances from any changes being proposed would need to be considered.

 

·       The Committee agreed that it wanted the Council’s approach to co-opted members’ remuneration to be fair and to accord with the spirit of the IRPW’s Annual Reports. Surveying the co-opted members for their views and experiences of their duties could provide useful information.

 

RESOLVED – that the committee recommends that a survey of the views and experiences of the co-opted members be undertaken prior to future consideration by the committee of the Council’s approach to the remuneration of voting co-opted members.