?50,000 Increase In Budget To Pay More Money To Cabinet.

July

22

15 comments

At next week’s Full Council, there’s a proposal to give bigger payments to members of the cabinet, which has come via an independent panel:

? Cabinet members allowance to be set at 200% of the basic allowance, plus the basic allowance of ?4,250, making a total of ?12,750 per annum.

? Deputy Leader of the Council?s remuneration (That’s Councillor Mavis Webster) to be set at 300% of the basic allowance, plus the basic allowance of ?4,250, making a total of ?17,000 per annum.

? Leader of the Council?s remuneration (That’s Councillor Terry Cutmore) to be set at 500% of the basic allowance, plus the basic allowance of ?4,250, making a total of ?25,500.

? Some allowances to be given to independent members of the Standards Board (the panel that investigates complaints against councillors)

? All other allowances to remain at existing levels.

The officers report indicates the increased cost will be ?50,000 per year.

As background information – ordinary district councillors in Rochford get an allowance of ?4,250. Chris Black gets an extra 50% as leader of the opposition, making ?6,375. Ron Oatham gets nothing extrea for being deputy leader of the opposition group.

UPDATE
Just to clarify – those percentage figures are not the percentage increases for this year, they are the extra percentage for holding a particular position on the council.
Youn can see the current scheme here

At the moment:
:- Basic Allowance is ?4,250 per annum
Leader of the Council gets an extra 200% of Basic Allowance (total ?12750)
Deputy Leader of the Council gets an extra 100% of Basic Allowance (total ?8500)
Opposition Group Leader ? gets an extra 50% of Basic Allowance (total ?6375)
Cabinet Member ? gets an 50% of Basic Allowance + ?1,000 (?7375)

So :
the leader’s figure goes from ?12750 to ?25500
the deputy leader’s figure goes from ?8500 to ?17000
the cabinet members figures go from ?7375 to ?12750

and these are only recommendations. It’s quite possible that the Conservative Group will decide that the increases are too high, or that individual cabinet members will decide to donate the money to charity.

About the author, admin

  • By the way wouldn’t it be more democratic if the people who pay them got a say in this, maybe a referendum oh sorry, this is not about democracy, lets just ditch the cabinet. It’s not transparent. Lets bring back the old style council where the ELECTORATE could acually see and hear what they are cooking up for us!

  • I wish my husband could have a pay increase along the same lines then we wouldn’t have to worry about all the reported increases in gas/electricity (allegedly) etc.

  • Interesting that it’s less than a week since the Chancellor of the Exchecker stated that people should not be getting larger than inflation payrises. Inflation is currently standing at 3.8%, and when I went to school 50%, 200%, 300% and 500% were all larger than 3.8%.

    Can’t wait to see my council tax bill for next year now! Yet another rip off!

  • Greenbelt, there are various allowances :

    Childcare and Carer’s Allowances
    Childcare allowance to be set at £6.00 per hour maximum, .

    Carer’s allowance to be set at £15 per hour maximum,

    Travelling Expenses
    Claims for travelling expenses must be based on one of the following:-
    •
    Bus fare or second class railway train fare.
    •
    A mileage allowance for use of the Member’s vehicle, together with an additional allowance for passengers. ? A private car allowance of 40p per mile. ? A passenger allowance of 5p per mile. ? A motorcycle allowance of 24p per mile.
    ? A bicycle allowance of 20p per mile.

    Subsistence Allowance (For conferences etc)
    1. The rates shall not exceed:-
    (a) In the cases of an absence, not involving an absence overnight from the usual place of residence:-
    i Breakfast allowance (more than 4 hours from normal place of residence – before 11am) £6.24
    ii Lunch allowance (more than 4
    hours away from normal place of
    residence – including lunchtime
    between 12 noon and 2pm) £8.62
    iii Tea allowance (more than 4
    hours away from normal place of
    residence including period 3 pm
    to 6 pm) £3.40
    iv. Evening meal allowance (more than 4 hours away from normal place of residence, ending after 7 pm) £10.67
    (b) Overnight allowance on training course meeting. £3.63
    For overnight stays the actual cost of hotel accommodation will be claimable, subject to a maximum of £120 per night. This sum is increased to £180 per night if staying in Central London.

  • Admin. Thank you for the comprehensive list of allowances. I’m sure some of the items will surprise a few readers. How many councillors claim the bicycle allowance?

  • Greenbelt, the list is not quite complete – use the link for the download to get everything.

    I don’t know if anyone claims the bcicyle allowance. I don’t think I’ve ever claimed any travel allowance – but then again , I live in Rayleigh where the meetings are held. If I lived in Wakering I would be in a different situation.

    Going back 15 years or so allowances were much lower – below about £1,000 a year for most councillors, I think.

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