Agenda item

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The City Council considered a report of the Director of Law and Governance in respect of a review of Members’ Allowances Scheme.

Local Authority officer pay, including annual increases in pay levels, was determined by the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services. All local authorities are required to have a scheme which makes provision for a range of allowances and expenses to elected Members. Since its introduction, Coventry’s scheme has included provision for Member allowances to rise automatically in line with any pay increases that are made to local government employees on a specific spinal point on the NJC scale. Where a local authority scheme provides for increasing allowances by an index, this can operate for maximum period of four years and a further review is required before any further index can be applied. Whilst each authority approves its own scheme, legislation requires that each authority appoints an Independent Remuneration Panel to make recommendations on its scheme. An Independent Remuneration Panel has met to consider the application of an index to Coventry’s scheme and has recommended that the existing provision linking for indexing be continued. When approving changes to its scheme, the Council must have regard to the Panel’s recommendations although it is not bound by them.

The following amendment was moved by Councillor T Sawdon, seconded by Councillor D Skinner, and lost:

That Council approves an alternative proposal that the recommendation of the panel is amended by the addition of the following words at the end of their recommendation:

The index should not apply for 2020/2021 and is therefore frozen for 2020/2021 in line with current national Government Policy.

RESOLVED that the City Council

1)  Approves the following recommendation made by the Panel:

·  That the Basic, Special Responsibility, co-optee and civic allowances continue to be increased each year by any percentage increase in pay agreed for local government employees, (pegged to spinal column point 43 of the NJC scheme); this indexing to be effective from 1 April 2020 and expire on 31 March 2024.

2)  Delegates authority to theDirector of Law and Governance to amend the Scheme of Members’ Allowances according to the decisions taken by Council for inclusion in the Council’s Constitution.

Note: In accordance with the Constitution, a recorded vote by name was taken in respect of this matter.

The Councillors voting for and against the amendment as detailed above (in italics) were as follows:

Result: Lost   

For: 14

Against: 32

Abstentions: 0

The Councillors voting for and against the Recommendations were as follows:

Result: Carried   

For: 32

Against: 14

Abstentions: 0