The Council operates a Members’ Allowances Scheme which is reviewed annually by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP). The Members’ Allowance Scheme is Chapter 6 of the Council’s Constitution, the IRP have reviewed the current scheme and have made recommendations for the 2023/24 Municipal Year and  in Appendix A.

The recommendation is for all allowances to stay the same. Although, the IRP report had recommended that member allowances for 2023/24 be increased by 2% (rounded down to the nearest £100) for the basic allowance only.  Other allowances were recommended to be remain unchanged.

Cllr Aspinell thanked the Remuneration Panel for their work. 

The Mayor noted the error in the appendix which referred to the Leader of the Minority Group which should not have been included. 

After a full discussion, Cllr Aspinell MOVED and Cllr Russell SECONDED the recommendations in the report and by a show of hands, this was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

Members are asked:

1.    That the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel at Appendix A be noted.

2.    That the Members Allowances at Appendix C be agreed, and delegated authority is given to the Monitoring Officer to amend the constitution.

Reason for recommendation

The Local Authorities (members Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 require that before Council can determine its Members Allowances for the forthcoming Municipal Year, it must consider a report from the Independent Remuneration Panel.