Across the United Kingdom all local authorities are legally obligated to carry out a review of the members allowances scheme (the scheme that lists the allowances to which elected District Councillors are entitled) which is governed by the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003.
At North Herts Council we have an Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) which is made up of three external individuals whose responsibility is to review the Members Allowance Scheme.
The current IRP were appointed on 23 February 2023 and will serve a 4-year term until February 2027.
The IRP assess whether amendments are required to the Scheme either in terms of the Basic Allowance or the Special Responsibility Allowances paid to those with specific roles (i.e., Leader, Deputy Leader of Council, Chair of Planning Control Committee etc.). Although the IRP are not obligated to, they also consider other allowances not included within the Regulations, such as the Chair and Vice Chair of Council.
The Panel formulates a report, providing suggestions for the Council to review:
- the level of Basic Allowance for all Councillors
- the categories of special responsibility for which a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) should be paid
- the rate of childcare/dependency allowance
- travel and subsistence allowance
- annual uplift
The final recommendations from the IRP are presented to a meeting of the Full Council (usually in January), where Members determine whether to adopt the recommendations.
You can view the Panel’s report that was presented to the Council on 25 January 2024.
For information on the current scheme, previous schemes and Members Allowances claims from the previous years, please see the Members Allowances page.