A report to Full Council recommends that the leader of the 3 member Conservative Group on Brent Council gets a Special Responsibility Allowance rise from £6,000 to £8,000. The recommendation is based on the average provided in comparable London boroughs. The allowance is in addition to the basic councillor allowance.
Quick quiz question for readers: (answers at foot of page)
1) Who is he?
2) What has he achieved in holding the Council to account?
The biggest rise is reserved for the Chair of the Audit and Standards Committee, Cllr Aslam Choudhary, (who also serves as Vice Chair of the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee. A rise to match similar roles in other London boroughs is recommended that will increase his allowance from £1,000 to £5,000.
All councillors' allowances will be increased by 2% in line with the Local Government Pay Inflation Settlement.
The Report reminds councillors that the 2018 Report recommended that allowance be set 'at a level that enables people to undertake the role of councillor while not acting as an incentive to do so. It is equally important, as acknowledged, that there should not be a financial disincentive.
ANSWERS
1) Reg Colwill
2)
Quick quiz question for readers: (answers at foot of page)
1) Who is he?
2) What has he achieved in holding the Council to account?
The biggest rise is reserved for the Chair of the Audit and Standards Committee, Cllr Aslam Choudhary, (who also serves as Vice Chair of the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee. A rise to match similar roles in other London boroughs is recommended that will increase his allowance from £1,000 to £5,000.
All councillors' allowances will be increased by 2% in line with the Local Government Pay Inflation Settlement.
The Report reminds councillors that the 2018 Report recommended that allowance be set 'at a level that enables people to undertake the role of councillor while not acting as an incentive to do so. It is equally important, as acknowledged, that there should not be a financial disincentive.
ANSWERS
1) Reg Colwill
2)
2 comments:
On Wednesday Council members will vote to put up Council Tax by 3.99%, and make a further £7.4 million of cuts to services.
The total cost, and extra cost, of the allowances paid to councillors is NOT disclosed. Under the "Financial Implications" heading for that report it merely says:
'The actual overall cost of the payment of allowances depends on which Members are appointed to the roles where an SRA is received, as only one such allowance is payable irrespective of the number of roles held. At the end of each financial year, the payments made to each Member are published in accordance with statutory rules.'
Council members will therefore vote to increase their own allowances, without knowing how much it will cost Brent's Council Taxpayers to fund that increase, or what cuts to vital services in Adult Social Care or for Children and Young People could be avoided if they would forego that increase.
FOR INFORMATION:
I have now found the latest available overall figure, in the notes to Brent Council's 2018/19 accounts:
Note 17 - Members' Allowances
Total payments including National Insurance costs in 2018/19 were £1.16m.
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