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Agreed by full Council, the Tendring District Council Constitution is the over-arching rule book for procedure at the council.
This is Part Seven. Other sections can be found elsewhere on TED, overall the index is:
Please note: to comply with formatting and accessibility, some sections which appear as (a) (b) or (i) (ii) and so on in the written Constitution may appear here in a different style. In all cases the document version (available to download) is the master.
In exercise of the powers conferred on Tendring District Council under the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 (as amended) the following Scheme of Allowances (“the Scheme”) has been approved by the Council, having taken due account of the recommendations of its Independent Remuneration Panel.
The Scheme may be cited as the “Tendring District Council Members’ Allowances Scheme”, and will be effective from 1 May each year until subsequently amended by the Council.
In accordance with the above regulations the Scheme payments will be reviewed annually. The review process will involve:
See Appendix 2 for the current scheme and most recent decision by Annual Council.
In the Scheme:
This Scheme has been established in a way that reflects the responsibility and time commitment required from Members in the discharge of their duties. It acknowledges their duties to ward constituents, fellow councillors, the population as a whole and to organisations outside the Council. The extent of these responsibilities, and the commitment they require, is reflected in the extent to which a Councillor is remunerated.
These duties also include undertaking development/training opportunities provided.
Basic Allowance is a flat rate payment made to all Councillors in recognition of their time commitments, including such inevitable calls on their time as meetings with officers and constituents and attendance at political group meetings. It also covers incidental costs such as the use of their homes, telephone costs and peripheral costs such as paper, printer cartridges etcetera except that headed paper and business cards will be provided by Tendring District Council on request. The same level of Basic Allowance is paid to all councillors.
This Allowance seeks to ensure that the time and effort taken by Councillors to participate in general core training is recompensed.
Special Responsibility Allowances will be payable to those councillors who hold positions with additional special responsibility.
Payment to the Leader(s) of Group(s) will also be considered.
The amount of Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) payable will vary according to the position held, duties undertaken and the level of responsibility involved.
The Allowances seek to also reflect participation in Mandatory Training for particular roles and encourage others to participate in training (for example, a Committee Chairman).
The Regulations make provision for the Scheme to include payment of a Childcare and Dependant Carers’ Allowance to those councillors who incur expenditure for the care of children or dependant relatives whilst undertaking official duties.
Allowances are also made available to Members who have an express need. The express need shall be in the form of a written declaration by a Member that needs to be lodged with the Head of Democratic Services and Elections.
Travel and Subsistence Allowances are also approved by the Council following consideration of recommendations made by the Independent Remuneration Panel in accordance with the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003.
Travel and Subsistence payments will be made in accordance with the laid down rates in respect of councillors’ duties and in respect of approved attendance on approved outside bodies. Rates approved by the Council, following consideration of the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel are set out in Appendix 2 to this Scheme.
Claims for travel and subsistence costs incurred by Councillors to undertake designated official duties in the District shall be remunerated only in respect of travel (and travel/duty time) within the District.
Claims for travel and subsistence submitted to Democratic Services and Elections by the second working day of each month will be paid in that month otherwise they will be paid the following month. Members should aim to submit claims the month after the mileage etcetera has been incurred in order to assist effective budgetary control and ensure proper treatment within the correct tax year (in compliance with HMRC requirements). Members will be reminded before the end of the tax year to submit claims relating to that year.
This allowance is paid in accordance with the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. As with travel and subsistence, claims submitted to Democratic Services and Elections by the second working day of each month and will be paid in that month otherwise they will be paid the following month.
The Local Government Pension Scheme does not allow councillor posts to be pensionable.
Payment of Allowances to the Council’s Chairman and Vice-Chairman are permitted by virtue of Sections 3 and 5 of the Local Government Act 1972 (as opposed to the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003). For completeness, in respect of Allowances for Councillors, the Allowances for the Chairman and Vice-Chairman are included in this Scheme for reference.
The Scheme will be administered in a way that meets the need for both simplicity and transparency. The following procedures are intended to achieve such objectives.
There is an expectation that no Councillor will be eligible to claim more than two separate Special Responsibility Allowances. Where a Councillor is eligible for more than two such allowances they may make the specific case to the Head of Democratic Services and Elections (on behalf of the Chief Executive) to seek the views of the Independent Remuneration Panel as to whether that further Allowance may be paid. The views of the Panel will then be reported to a meeting of the Council to determine whether the further Allowance shall be paid.
Following the four yearly local elections and the subsequent Annual Council Meeting at which positions on the Council are filled the annual remuneration entitlement in respect of each Councillor will be calculated and documented.
Details will be included on a Schedule of Members’ Commitments form (Appendix 1), that will form part of each Member’s Declaration of office and which will provide a public record of an individual’s responsibilities and commitments. These documents will be retained within the Council and will be used to determine the basis of each Councillor’s monthly payment through the Council’s payroll system.
Any changes to members’ allowances subsequent to this will be documented separately and individual Schedules of Members’ Commitments will not be updated.
Payment of allowances will be paid to each Councillor in arrears in twelve instalments on the 20th of each month (or nearest working day thereto).
Councillors may, during the course of a year, take up or relinquish a position or role identified within this scheme which alters their entitlement to allowances. In such circumstances their entitlement will be adjusted on a pro-rata basis. Councillors should notify the Head of Democratic Services & Elections of such changes as soon as they are known.
If a Councillor’s term of office starts or ends other than at the commencement or end of the normal municipal year, entitlement to such remuneration as their responsibilities and commitments attract will also be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
The revised allowance will apply from the day on which the change occurs.
A Councillor may decide to forgo all or part of the allowance due to him/her. In such circumstances the Head of Democratic Services & Elections should be notified in writing of such decision.
Once in place, limited or non-payment will continue until revoked in writing by the Councillor concerned (NB such revocation shall not be backdated).
In order to maintain the transparency of the scheme, a list of “approved” duties that attract entitlement to travel and subsistence will be maintained and all claims will be verified against this list before payment is made with non-compliant claims being removed.
Members are advised to declare the receipt of a members allowance if any form of benefit such as income support or housing benefit is being claimed. The rules on how members’ allowances are treated may vary depending on the benefit claimed and advice should be sought from the relevant administrating body. For example the rules for those in receipt of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit state that “basic members allowance, special responsibility allowance and conference attendance allowance are treated as earnings except for any expenses which have been wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties”. Members are therefore advised that in order to claim expenses in these circumstances receipts and records to justify the expenses incurred must be kept.
The power “to appoint member representatives to attend meetings of appropriate outside bodies” is delegated in Part Three of the Constitution to the Leader/Portfolio Holders and to Committees with regard to the functions within their jurisdiction. Otherwise such appointments are made by Council at a meeting.
Expenses are payable to all Members for attendance at Council otherwise it is payable where the Member is appointed to or invited to attend the relevant Cabinet, Committee, Sub-Committee or Working Party. It is not payable where Members choose to attend a meeting and sit in the audience.
Similarly expenses are payable where Members request or are invited to pre organised meetings with officers to discuss Council business.
Expenses are payable where Members attend site meetings in relation to meetings of Cabinet, Committees, Sub-Committees or Working Parties to which they are appointed or invited to attend
The relevant external bodies are those which the Leader has made a formal decision to appoint to. The list is on the Members’ page of the intranet.
Expenses are payable where the training is relevant to the Members’ position on the Council. This will include Council arranged sessions such as the regular Members’ Briefings. Where Members attend external training out of personal interest, that will not be payable.
Expenses are payable for the Chairman or Vice Chairman and their consorts undertaking civic duties. They will not be payable for other members attending civic events.
The Chief Executive may designate as approved duties such events for travel claim purposes where attendance by a Councillor(s) would be in the interests of the Council and the event otherwise has not been so designated under any of the foregoing provisions.
The following principles will apply in the adopted scheme.
The scheme does not permit the remuneration for substitute Members, other than in respect of payment for travel and subsistence for substitution at meetings and attendance at any mandatory training. This is on the basis that a Member has been named as a substitute by their Group Leader.
[Appendix One is a blank allowances claim form. This can be found in attached document.]
Council on 24th January 2023 agreed the following scheme with effect from that date or otherwise on 1 April 2022 in respect of Travel Mileage, Dependents’ Carers’ and Subsistence Allowances.
And otherwise approved the Basic and Special responsibility Allowances for 2022/23 and until 2027/28 shall be index linked to the Office of National Statistics estimated public sector regular average weekly earnings growth rate and applied to the Scheme from the following April.
Period 1st April 2023 – end of the Municipal Year
(where a Councillor is entitled to claim three or more Special Responsibility Allowances the expectation is that they will claim only two such Allowances (see para 3.1 above)
Payment will be made under the Scheme to a Group Leader who is the leader of any group. The “Group” must comprise two or more members.
That in relation to any new or revised Committee arrangements, the role of Chairman (or other approved special responsibility) be allocated to the following categories by Council:
This allowance is to reimburse costs incurred for care arranged by the Councillor for a dependant (including care for the Councillor’s children) to enable the Councillor to attend formal meetings of the Council or other approved official events.
This allowance is set at the prevailing rate as adopted by the Living Wage Foundation as its ‘Real Living Wage’ for outside of London. The ‘Real Living Wage’ rate is £9.50 per hour and is payable for care costs to a maximum of 15 hours per week.
In exceptional circumstances a claim for reimbursement of higher costs incurred may be permitted where the care provided is particularly specialist in nature.
The HMRC considers the following mileage rates as not including an element that is taxable. In view of this the Council has adopted the prevailing HMRC rates at this level as the appropriate rates to use in recompense of costs incurred by Councillors in travel to attend formal meetings and for approved official business of the Council. Where the duty is within the District reimbursement shall be limited to travel/duty time within the District (see paragraph 2.5 above).
Passenger payments - cars and vans - 5p per passenger per business mile for carrying another Councillor/officer in a car or van on journeys which are also official business journeys for them.
HMRC subsistence rates (and qualifying conditions) are those adopted by Tendring District Council for its Councillors in this Scheme. The current rates and conditions are as follows (and apply to authorised conferences/events/meetings/visits only):
Rates are set as follows:
As set out in paragraph 2.5 above claims in respect of duties in the District shall be reimbursed only in relation to the time in the District.
Where a scale rate of £5 or £10 is paid and the qualifying journey in respect of which it is paid lasts beyond 8pm a supplementary rate of £10 can be paid to cover the additional expenses necessarily incurred as a result of working late.
A meal is defined as a combination of food and drink and would take a normal dictionary meaning. Where Councillors are required to start early or finish late on a regular basis, the over 5 hour and 10 hour rate, whichever is applicable, can be paid provided that all the other qualifying conditions are satisfied.
Qualifying conditions - Benchmark scale rates must only be used where all the qualifying conditions are met. The qualifying conditions are:
A Councillor can only be reimbursed for a meal once. If the cost of an evening meal or breakfast is reimbursed on an actual basis, because it is included in the cost of an overnight stay, the Councillor would not also be entitled to a benchmark rate in respect of those meals.
Reimbursement of ALL subsistence expenses (including hostel costs) will be based on actual cost incurred on production of receipts – maximum amounts will only be paid based on proof of expenditure of that level.
All claims for subsistence must therefore be accompanied by receipts demonstrating expenditure actually incurred. This is to ensure that no National Insurance liability is incurred on payments of such allowances.