The Independent Panel on Members' Remuneration

THE INDEPENDENT PANEL ON MEMBERS' REMUNERATION

Report of the Independent Panel's

Annual Review of Allowances

APRIL 2008

INTRODUCTION

1The Independent Panel on Members' Remuneration (the Panel) has met and considered Members’ allowances for the Municipal year, 2008/ 2009. The Panel’s recommendations are contained in paragraph 36 below.

BACKGROUND

2Council has previously adopted the Panel's recommendations relating to 'index linking' of a number of allowances. These are:

Basic Allowance:

This is linked to the Officers' annual pay awards until 2009.

Travelling & Subsistence:

These allowances are linked to Officers’ rates of allowances.

Dependent Carers’ Allowances

The Child Care Allowance is linked to the National Minimum Wage, and the Adult Carer's Allowance is linked to Social Services contract levels rate for domicillary care.

3The Council has also previously adopted the Independent Panel’s recommendations relating to a banded structure for Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs). These are also linked to the Basic Allowance, and are therefore uprated automatically in line with the Officers’ annual pay award.

LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE

4In giving consideration to its recommendations, the Panel has had full regard to the current legislation and Government Guidance.

MATTERS UNDER REVIEW

‘Index Linked’ system, and banding of SRAs

5As noted in paragraphs 2 and 3 above, the Council has previously adopted the Panel’s recommendations relating to index linking. The legislation requires that where a Council adopts such arrangements, it must seek a further recommendation from the Panel in respect of those arrangements after a period of (no longer than) four years. In view of the fact that 2008 - 2009 will be the fourth year of operation of these arrangements, the Panel intends to carry out a major review of Members’ Allowances early in 2009 for the Municipal Year 2009-2010.

Basic Allowance

6The Panel noted that the current level of the Basic Allowance in Middlesbrough and neighbouring Councils are as follows:

REDCAR & CLEVELAND / £8,840
DARLINGTON / £6,895
STOCKTON / £6,304
MIDDLESBROUGH / £5,970
HARTLEPOOL / £5,410

7Although the Middlesbrough Basic Allowance does appear to be somewhat lower than average, the Panel agreed to look at this in more depth as part of the major review mentioned in paragraph 5 above.

8For the forthcoming year, the Panel therefore recommends that the Basic Allowance continues to be uprated in line with the Officers’ annual pay award.

Special Responsibilities Allowances (SRAs)

9The Panel considered the current banding levels of SRAs, and where within the banding system remunerated positions are placed.

The role of the Vice Chair of the Council

10The Panel had agreed the request by the Mayor to attend and address the Panel meeting on the subject of the roles and responsibilities of the Vice Chair of the Council.

11The Mayor explained that under the terms of the Council’s Constitution, he is the First Citizen of the town. One of the duties of the First Citizen is to ensure that the town is properly represented at ‘First Citizen’ functions: these are civic and ceremonial functions. These are primarily in connection with local churches, the armed forces (especially those branches of the armed forces with which the town has a special relationship), royal visits, officiating at Citizenship Ceremonies, and similar functions.

12The Mayor informed the Panel that in 2005, following the recommendations of the Civics Working Group, the Council had agreed and adopted the following protocol:

Order of attendance for ‘civic’ functions

The Mayor is First Citizen, and will normally represent the Authority at 'first citizen' functions. In the absence of the Mayor the town will be represented by

1The Deputy Mayor; and if he is not available,

2The Chair of the Council; and if he is not available,

3The Vice-Chair of the Council.

13The Mayor informed the Panel that over the past 3 years, the roles of the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and the Chair of the Council had developed significantly. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor now focus far more on the core business matters affecting the town such as regeneration and inward investment.

14The Panel also heard that the Chair of the Council has taken on considerably responsibilities in respect of Members Development, and that this work had resulted in the award of the Government’s I&DeA Member Development Charter, and Investors in People (IIP) for Elected Members.

15The Mayor informed the Panel that he is now concerned that the town is not being properly represented at First Citizen civic and ceremonial events. The Mayor informed the Panel that he needs additional capacity to properly ensure that First Citizen duties are undertaken, and is looking for a ‘Mayoral Representative’ to undertake such duties.

16The Mayor informed the Panel that a meeting of the Civics Working Group had taken place that morning, and that the Working Group had given consideration to this matter. The Working Group has resolved to recommend to Council at its Annual Meeting in May that the protocol outlined in paragraph 12 above be amended as follows:

17The Mayor is the First Citizen of Middlesbrough. However, most First Citizen duties will be delegated, by the Mayor, as follows:

1. The Vice-Chair of the Council; and if he is not available,
2. The Deputy Mayor; and if he is not available,
3. The Chair of the Council.

18After the Mayor had left the meeting, the Panel gave careful consideration to the proposals that he had presented, and deliberated on these matters for some time.

19The Panel expressed concerns that in general terms the role of Vice Chair of Committees should not bea remunerated role. The Panel did not want to set a precedent, or establish the impression that Vice Chairs should, in general, be remunerated. At the same time the Panel acknowledged that whilst the current Vice Chair of the Council has only been required to chair the Council on one occasion, over the past year he has increasingly been undertaking First Citizen duties. Most of these are evening and weekend functions.

20The recommendations of the Panel in respect of the Vice Chair of the Council are that:

• The role as outlined in paragraphs 11 – 17 should be remunerated;
• The Panel does not want to be seen to be setting a precedent in respect of remunerating the role of vice-chairs;
• An appropriate role profile (job description) and some indication of volume of work needs to be presented to the Panel for its full consideration;
• That in the interim, the post of Vice Chair should be remunerated and placed in the 0.5 scale in the SRA Banding Structure (presently £2,985) to recognise the imminent transfer of First Citizen, civic and ceremonial duties to that post; and
• That the above remuneration should be for a period of one year only, and that the arrangements will be reviewed by the Panel after the initial one year period.

The Mayor’s Remuneration

21The Panel considered the levels of remuneration currently agreed in those Authorities that have directly elected Mayors. These are as follows:

AUTHORITY / ELECTED MAYOR’S SRA)
NEWHAM / £76,194
HACKNEY / £74,912
STOKE ON TRENT / £69,190
DONCASTER / £61,265
WATFORD / £60,277
HARTLEPOOL / £60,076
MIDDLESBROUGH / £59,700
NORTH TYNESIDE / £58,629
TORBAY / £53,658
MANSFIELD / £51,724
BEDFORD / £48,874
LEWISHAM / NO RESPONSE

22It is the view of the Panel that the level of remuneration in Middlesbrough is broadly in line with the allowances paid by other Authorities, especially when the population levels of each are taken into account.

23The Panel did, however, consider whether there is any way of looking at the workload of the Mayor, compared with other local authorities with directly elected Mayors, particularly those of a similar size. The Panel noted that Redcar & Cleveland Independent Panel had used INLOGOV (the Institute for Local Government Studies at Birmingham University) to assist in their deliberations and recommendations.

24The Panel requests that contact be made with INLOGOV to explore the possibility of a piece of work to compare the workloads and remuneration levels of the Mayor with 3 or 4 other similar Authorities, and, perhaps, one Authority that does not have a directly elected Mayor.

Other matters relating to SRAs

25In general terms, the Panel was satisfied that the current structure of banding is correct.

26The Panel asked for information as to whether there have been any other major changes in the responsibility of any positions that would affect whether or not they should be remunerated. The Members’ Office Manager advised that he had consulted with the Director of Legal & Democratic Services, and no changes had been identified that would affect those SRAs contained in the current Scheme of Allowances.

27The Panel also noted that no other representations have been received from any elected Members in respect of SRAs.

28In view of the above, the Panel recommends that no changes are made to any of the other SRAs currently in payment.

Standards Committee – Independent Members

29The Panel was informed of the forthcoming legislation that will introduce changes to the way that the Standards Board for England operates, and the move to local investigations and adjudication.

30In addition to the existing requirements and responsibilities, Standards committees will now have three separate but distinct roles in relation to complaints about Member conduct:

• Receiving and assessing complaints.
• Reviewing local assessment decisions.
• Conducting hearings following investigation.

31There will be a legal requirement to have three Sub-Committees of the Standards Committee, each of which must have an independent Chair. As a consequence of the changes the workloads, and the levels of responsibility, of Independent Members are likely to increase significantly.

32The Panel was informed that the Council had received a request that remuneration for Independent Members be given consideration. The Panel was also appraised of the difficulties recruiting Independent Members.

33The Panel was informed that some local Councils are introducing remuneration for Independent Members of Standards Committees, typically ranging between £350 and £550 per annum.

34The view of the Panel was that there are potential dangers in remunerating such posts. Applications might be made by people acting not out of a sense of civic duty, but simply seeking remunerated posts. Also, there is no indication at this point in time as to the likely workload.

35The Panel is therefore not minded, at present, to recommend remuneration for Independent Members of Standards Committee. However, the Panel has undertaken to review this next January, in the light of experience of the operation of the new legislation. If at that point it is felt that these posts should be remunerated, then the Council can use its backdating powers, in the way that it did with Licensing Sub-Committees following the transfer of liquor licensing from the Courts to the Council.

RECOMMENDATIONS

36The recommendations of the Panel in respect of Members’ Allowances for 2008 – 2009 are as follows:

(1)That the Basic Allowance continues to be uprated in line with the Officers’ annual pay award.

(2)That the role of Vice Chair of Council as outlined by the Mayor in paragraphs 11 to 17 above should be remunerated, but that this should not be seen as a precedent for remunerating the role of other vice-chairs;

(2a)That an appropriate role profile and details of workloads should be presented to a future meeting of the Panel so that properly informed consideration can be given to the appropriate level of remuneration;

(2b)That in the interim, the post of Vice Chair of the Council should be remunerated and placed in the 0.5 scale in the Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) Banding Structure (presently £2,985) to recognise the significant additional responsibilities that the imminent transfer of First Citizen duties will entail;

(2c)That the above remuneration in respect of the Vice Chair of the Council should be for a period of one year only, and that the arrangements will be reviewed by the Panel after that initial period.

(3)That no other changes are made to any of the other SRAs currently contained in the Scheme of Allowances

(4)That contact be made with INLOGOV to explore the possibility of a piece of work to compare the workloads and remuneration levels of the Mayor of Middlesbrough with a small number of similar Authorities

(5)That at the present time remuneration for Independent Members of Standards Committee should not be introduced, but this should be reviewed early in 2009, in the light of experience of operating the new legislation.

Dr Jim Whiston (Chair)

Brian Footitt

June Goodchild

John Hargan

Paul Hopson

30 April 2008