PRESS RELEASE
INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL RESIGNS AFTER SURREY
COUNTY COUNCILLORS VOTE FOR HUGE HIKE IN ALLOWANCES
The independent panel set up to review and recommend the level of Surrey
County Councillors’ allowances resigned en bloc last week after councillors
threw out their proposals and awarded themselves a massive new payments
package.
The allowances for the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council have been
hiked up by some 60% and allowances for eight roles that the panel
considered already overpaid and needing reduction, have remained static or
been increased. The total increase in allowances, which are paid for by
Council Tax Payers, will now cost £62,000 more per year than the panel’s
proposals, constituting an additional quarter of a million pounds over the
four year period for which it is set. All but four of the 61 Special
Responsibility Allowances agreed by the Council are currently held by
Councillors of the ruling majority party.
“This flagrant disregard for the carefully considered recommendations of
its own Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) has left us with no
alternative but to resign,” said panel chairman Cathy Rollinson. “Like most
members of the public, we do not believe that it is right for councillors
to award themselves pay rises, against the advice of an independent panel.”
“Surrey County Councillors have awarded themselves significant increases in
allowances that are not supported by any evidence. Councillors carry out an
important role on behalf of the community and the IRP, after much research
and consideration, recommended a scheme that reflected the responsibility
attached to each role, the time needed to fulfil those duties and a
comparison with allowances paid by councils similar to Surrey.
“The IRP recognised that the Basic Allowance, which is paid to all 81
Councillors, had not been raised since 2008 and consequently recommended a
modest increase of 5.3% to £12,418. This has been agreed by the Council.
However, the allowance awarded for every single one of the special
responsibility roles undertaken by Councillors is higher than that proposed
by the IRP.
“A 59% increase has been agreed by the Council for the Leader’s Special
Responsibility Allowance to £43,000 – the IRP recommended £35,548) and a
60% increase for the Deputy Leader ( to £31,250 – the IRP recommended
£30,333). Four recently introduced Cabinet Associate posts have been
awarded £12,500, 18% more than recommended by the IRP.
“The Council also rejected the panel’s suggestion that the increases might
be phased in over several years, deciding to implement them all with
immediate effect. The IRP also proposed that Councillors should provide tax
payers with an annual on-line report, outlining how they had fulfilled
their roles, and that the Leaders of the political groups might consider
implementing an annual assessment of the performance of each Councillor
within their group. These recommendations were not even discussed by the
Council.
“As a result of the total disregard which the County Council has paid to
the well-researched and cohesive proposals of the Independent Remuneration
Panel, put forward at a time when there is wide-spread belt-tightening
amongst tax payers, all three members of the Panel have resigned with
immediate effect.”
This is the third time that the councillors have refused to accept the
panel’s recommendations. In 2010 the Panel conducted a fundamental review
of Councillors’ allowances and issued a report that recommended the
redistribution of allowances on a fairer basis, rewarding those who carry
greater responsibility. Where there was no evidence of additional
significant responsibility, the Panel recommended the reduction or
withdrawal of allowances. The Council rejected these proposals.
In 2008, the IRP made a series of recommendations on the appropriate number
and level of allowances and specifically recommended that the number of
councillors receiving special responsibility allowances should be reduced
to below 50%. The Council rejected this proposal and introduced a further
seven new allowances.
ends
Notes for Editors: All Councils are required by The Local Authorities
(Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 to set up and maintain an
Independent Remuneration Panel of three people who are not themselves
councillors. Panels make recommendations on basic allowances payable to
all councillors, special responsibility allowances as well as travel and
other allowances. Councils are required to have regard to the
recommendations of the panel before amending their scheme of allowances.
Government guidance states that “if the majority of members of a council
receive a special responsibility allowance [in addition to the basic
allowance], the local electorate may rightly question whether this was
justified.“ Source: New Council Constitutions: Guidance on Consolidated
Regulations for Local Authority Allowances, Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister (2003)
The members of Surrey County Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel are:
Cathy Rollinson (Chairman), Janet Housden and Kathy Atkinson.
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I voted against the increase at full council last week.
From Your Local Guardian:
Residents’ Association and Independent councillors on SCC criticised the increased allowances at a time when the council is plannning to save £72 million in this financial year.
Councillor Nick Harrison, leader of the Residents’ Association and Independent group of councillors, who represent Nork and Tattenhams, said: “There is a total lack of common-sense and affordability within the new allowances scheme forced through by the Conservative majority of the county council.
“An independent panel took the time and effort to properly consider what level of public money should be used to reimburse councillors for their work in the community.
“Most of the panel’s recommendations were rejected or twisted in such a way that they favour the executive roles within the council while stripping away some of the importance placed on people who scrutinise how vital public services are managed and funded.”
Eber Kington, Residents’ Association councillor for Ewell Court, Auriol and Cuddington, added: “This is another occasion when the Conservatives at SCC have written their own cheque to be cashed once again using public funds.
“The council taxpayer will be paying over 70 per cent more for the leader and cabinet than 18 months ago. That’s too much, too soon, for too many.
“At a time when the public is still seething about bankers’ bonuses and expenses for MPs, the Tory administration treat them with contempt and vote through pay rises for themselves, some of which amount to a 60 per cent rise.”