Agenda item

Suspension of Council Procedure Rule

Prior to the commencement of this item of business, it was RESOLVED: on the Motion of Councillor Pat Midgley, seconded by Councillor Harry Harpham, that Council does, for the duration of this item, suspend Council Procedural Rule 17.11(a) giving the mover of the motion a right of reply.

It was moved by Councillor Mary Lea, seconded by Councillor Bryan Lodge, that the following recommendations of the Cabinet at its meeting held on 8 May 2013 in relation to the Members’ Allowances Scheme for the remainder of 2013/14 and onward be confirmed:-

“RESOLVED: That Cabinet:-

(a)

refers the report to the Annual Meeting of the Council, to be held on 15 May 2013;

(b)

notes that it is the intention of the Administration not to apply to Councillors’ allowances the 1% pay rise awarded to Council employees and all public sector workers for 2013/14; and

(c)

notes that the administration is to consult with all political groups on the Council in respect of the report and its recommendations, prior to the annual meeting of the Council.”

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Julie Dore, seconded by Councillor Harry Harpham, that the recommendations of the Cabinet at its meeting held on 8^th May, 2013 in relation to the Members’ Allowances Scheme for the remainder of 2013/14 and onward, be replaced by the following resolution:-

RESOLVED: That this Council:-

(a)       thanks the members of the Independent Remuneration Panel for their report;

(b)       (i) confirms that allowances will be frozen again as they have been since April 2010 and Councillors will not be taking the 1% pay rise awarded to council employees and all public sector workers for 2013/14 despite the long standing agreement that councillors’ allowances mirror the public sector pay award;

            (ii) notes the following comments from the report of the Panel - “The Panel nevertheless recommends that the Council gives consideration to the comparatively low levels of allowances generally, but particularly in relation to its Leader and Executive Members, when next amending its Members’ Allowances Scheme”;

(iii) further notes that due to the current financial position of the Council, savings of £50 million have been made in this year’s budget and believes it would not be appropriate to increase the level of Special Responsibility Allowance awarded to any position when the Council is having to make such heavy cuts;

(iv) further notes the following comments from the report of the Panel - “The Panel notes that the role of Cabinet Advisor is paid at the same level as the Chairs of the Regulatory Committees (Planning and Highways Committee and Licensing Committee), yet has no formal decision-making responsibilities unlike the Chairs of those Committees.  It also notes that Sheffield pays a relatively high rate of allowance for that role in comparison to other Core Cities and neighbouring authorities, both in actual monetary value and in terms of the differential with the allowances paid to Cabinet Members.  For these reasons, the Panel recommends that the Council reviews the level of its allowance for the role of Cabinet Advisor”;

(v) therefore proposes to reduce the level of Special Responsibility Allowance awarded to Cabinet Advisers, in line with the recommendations of the Panel;

(vi) acknowledges that this reduction in the level of Special Responsibility Allowance for Cabinet Advisers is in addition to a reduction in the number of Cabinet Advisers in recent years by 4 Cabinet Adviser positions, from 14 in 2010/11 to the current level of 10;

(vii) notes the following comments from the report of the Panel - “The Panel notes that the roles of Shadow Cabinet Member and Shadow Cabinet Assistant are not roles recognised by a large majority of other Core Cities or neighbouring authorities for the purposes of the payment of Special Responsibility Allowances.  It also notes that some authorities allocate Special Responsibility Allowances to opposition groups according to the size of the group, whereas no such formula exists in Sheffield’s Scheme. Furthermore, unlike in Sheffield’s Scheme (which only recognises the leader of the largest opposition group on the Council), all opposition group leaders and whips are recognised in some authorities’ schemes.  The Panel recognises the need to adequately support the opposition groups but acknowledges that its roles are that of spokesperson, challenger, scrutineer etc and do not include responsibility for decision-making.  For this reason, the Panel recommends that the Council reviews its arrangements for providing Special Responsibility Allowances to members of opposition groups on the Council”;

(viii) therefore proposes to introduce a formula to allocate Special Responsibility Allowances to opposition groups according to the size of the group, in line with the recommendations of the Panel;

(ix) notes that the introduction of a formula to allocate Special Responsibility Allowances to opposition groups brings the number of Special Responsibility Allowances awarded to Opposition Members more into line with the practice in other authorities;

(x) confirms that changes to opposition group Special Responsibility Allowances does not impact on the status of the Shadow Cabinet; and

(xi) further confirms that as a result of the full range of changes to Special Responsibility Allowances in 2013/14, members of the ruling group will be subject to a greater total level of savings than Opposition Members;

(c)        accordingly, and having regard to the recommendations contained in the Panel’s report, together with the information contained in the report of the Executive Director, Resources, now submitted, a Members’ Allowances Scheme comprising the arrangements approved and adopted by the City Council at its meeting held on 3^rd March, 2010, be approved and adopted with immediate effect for the remainder of 2013/14 and onwards, with the following variations in relation to the responsibilities/duties in respect of which Special Responsibility Allowances are to be made available, and the rates of those Allowances:-

(i)            the posts of Chairs of Community Assemblies be removed from Band B1 and, on a provisional basis pending the outcome of the consultation currently being undertaken on locality management arrangements, 7 posts of Local Action Partnership Chair be established with a Special Responsibility Allowance to be included in Band B2, and be payable from the date of formal approval of the new locality management arrangements;

(ii)          the role of Lead Member for Scrutiny be formally recognised within the Scheme, but in view of the current structure and delivery of the scrutiny function in the Council, the role be included in Band B1 along with the posts of Chairs of the Scrutiny and Policy Development Committees (one of whom is also appointed to perform the role of Lead Member);

(iii)         the post of Leader of the largest group (not forming the Executive) be retained at Band B1 but be redesignated as “Leader of Opposition Groups” and be made subject to a qualifying threshold whereby it becomes payable to leaders of opposition groups with more than 20% of the membership of the Council;

(iv)         the posts of Cabinet Adviser be removed from Band B2 and placed on a new Band to be established with a rate of allowance at the mid-point between Band B2 and Band C;

(v)          no change be made at this point to the level of the allowance for the role of Chair of Planning and Highways Committee (i.e. Band B2), irrespective of the introduction of a single Committee in 2013/14; and

(vi)         the posts of Shadow Cabinet Member (on Band B2) and Shadow Cabinet Assistant (on Band C) be removed and new posts of Opposition Group Office Holders be established on Band B2, and the number of posts for which that allowance is payable be made subject to a qualifying threshold as follows:-

·         with more than 40% membership of the Council (3);

·         with more than 30% membership of the Council (2)

·         with more than 20% membership of the Council (1)

(d)       accordingly, a new Schedule 1 to the Members’ Allowances Scheme (which specifies the special responsibilities in respect of which Special Responsibility Allowances are payable, and the amounts of those allowances per annum) be approved as follows:-

            Leader (£18,167.68)

            Band A (£9,083.86)

·         Deputy Leader

·         Cabinet Members

            Band B (£7,509.32)

·         Lead Member for Scrutiny

·         Chairs of Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee

·         Leader of Opposition Groups with more than 20% of the membership of the Council

            Band C (£5,268.63)

·         Chair of Planning and Highways Committee

·         Chair of Licensing Committee

·         Local Action Partnership Chair

·         Opposition Group Office Holders-

-       with more than 40% membership of the Council (3)

-       with more than 30% membership of the Council (2)

-       with more than 20% membership of the Council (1)

            Band D (£4,148.29)

·         Cabinet Adviser

            Band E (£3,027.95)

·         Deputy Chair of Licensing Committee

            Pensions Authority

·         Member (£3,385.22)

·         Chair (£11,207.97)

·         Vice Chair (£5,603.99)

(e)       arrangements be made for role descriptions to be produced and published on the Council’s website for each of the roles for which Special Responsibility Allowances are paid;

(f)        it be made explicit in the Scheme that the dependent carers’ allowance would not be paid where caring duties have been performed by a member of the Councillor’s immediate family;

(g)       (i) as regards the annual index-linked increase, it be confirmed that, as in previous years, the annual index in relation to Basic, Special Responsibility (including the Pensions Authority), Co-optees and Dependent Carers’ Allowances shall be the average percentage officer pay award in Sheffield, and in relation to travel and subsistence, the annual index shall be the relevant officer rates agreed from time to time; such arrangements to be implemented for a period of four years and (ii) however, no annual increase be implemented during 2013/14 in relation to Basic, Special Responsibility (including the Pensions Authority), Co-optees and Dependent Carers’ Allowances;

(h)       the revised Scheme for 2013/14 appended to this amendment, which incorporates the changes set out in paragraphs (c), (d), (f) and (g) above, and contains (in the interests of enhancing clarity and transparency) more comprehensive detail on the current arrangements for the availability and payment of travel and subsistence allowances and definition of “approved duties”, be approved;

(i)         it be noted that Sheffield is to relinquish its chairship of the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority with effect from 2013/14, and that this will result in a financial saving to the Council; and

(j)         it be noted that the effect of the revisions to the Special Responsibility Allowance aspects of the Members’ Allowances Scheme and the appointments to be made earlier at this meeting to positions of special responsibility, results in a full year saving to the Members’ Allowances budget totalling approximately £96K and an in-year saving for the remainder of 2013/14 of approximately £84K (see calculations below), and the freezing of Members’ allowances in 2013/14 avoids a further cost pressure on that budget of 1% in 2013/14 (approximately £15K).

Savings calculation:

Special Responsibility Allowances:

- Chairs of Community Assemblies/Local Action Partnership Chair – 7 reduced allowances of £2,240.69 = £15,684.83;

- Cabinet Advisers – 10 reduced allowances of £1,120.34 = £11,203.40;

- Chair of Planning & Highways Cttee – 1 less allowance of £5,268.63;

- Shadow Cabinet Members/Opposition Group Office Holders – 7 less allowances of £5,268.63 = £36,880.41; and

- Pensions Authority Chair – 1 less allowance of £11,207.97.

Total SRA saving = £80,245.24 + 20% NI & Superannuation costs (actual savings depend on the individual circumstances of the Members affected) = £96,294.29.  10.5 months to end of financial year = 2013/14 SRA saving of approximately £84,257.50.

Plus cost pressure saving of approximately £15,000 due to non-implementation of annual increase on allowances in 2013/14.

Total approximate savings for 2013/14 of £99K.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

It was then moved by Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, seconded by Councillor Colin Ross, as an amendment, that the recommendations of the Cabinet at its meeting held on 8^th May, 2013 in relation to the Members’ Allowances Scheme for the remainder of 2013/14 and onward, be replaced by the following resolution:-

“RESOLVED: That this Council:-

(a)       thanks the members of the Independent Remuneration Panel for their report;

(b)       regrets that a cross-party agreement could not be reached on members’ allowances;

(c)        recommends that a cross-party group should be immediately formed to seek consensus on a future scheme; and

(d)       accordingly, agrees that the interim Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2013/14 approved by this Council at its meeting held on 1st March, 2013, be continued to be implemented from 15th May, 2013 until a new Scheme is approved by the Council at its meeting to be held on 5th June, 2013, informed by the work of the cross-party group.”

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

It was then moved by Councillor Jillian Creasy, seconded by Councillor Robert Murphy, as an amendment, that the recommendations of the Cabinet at its meeting held on 8^th May, 2013 in relation to the Members’ Allowances Scheme for the remainder of 2013/14 and onward, be replaced by the following resolution:-

“RESOLVED: That this Council:-

(a)       thanks the members of the Independent Remuneration Panel for their report;

(b)       supports the intention of the Administration not to apply to Councillors’ allowances the 1% pay rise awarded to Council employees and all public sector workers for 2013/14;

(c)        notes that the Administration did not consult in any meaningful sense with all political groups on the Council in respect of the report and its recommendations, prior to the annual meeting of the Council;

(d)       requests an urgent meeting of the Corporate Members Group in order to find a cross party solution to the challenge of meeting the target saving of £100,000 on Members budgets; and

(e)       accordingly, agrees that the interim Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2013/14 approved by this Council at its meeting held on 1st March, 2013, be continued to be implemented from 15th May, 2013 until a new Scheme is approved by the Council, informed by the work of the Corporate Members Group.”

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

RESOLVED: That this Council:-

(a)       thanks the members of the Independent Remuneration Panel for their report;

(b)       (i) confirms that allowances will be frozen again as they have been since April 2010 and Councillors will not be taking the 1% pay rise awarded to council employees and all public sector workers for 2013/14 despite the long standing agreement that councillors’ allowances mirror the public sector pay award;

            (ii) notes the following comments from the report of the Panel - “The Panel nevertheless recommends that the Council gives consideration to the comparatively low levels of allowances generally, but particularly in relation to its Leader and Executive Members, when next amending its Members’ Allowances Scheme”;

(iii) further notes that due to the current financial position of the Council, savings of £50 million have been made in this year’s budget and believes it would not be appropriate to increase the level of Special Responsibility Allowance awarded to any position when the Council is having to make such heavy cuts;

(iv) further notes the following comments from the report of the Panel - “The Panel notes that the role of Cabinet Advisor is paid at the same level as the Chairs of the Regulatory Committees (Planning and Highways Committee and Licensing Committee), yet has no formal decision-making responsibilities unlike the Chairs of those Committees.  It also notes that Sheffield pays a relatively high rate of allowance for that role in comparison to other Core Cities and neighbouring authorities, both in actual monetary value and in terms of the differential with the allowances paid to Cabinet Members.  For these reasons, the Panel recommends that the Council reviews the level of its allowance for the role of Cabinet Advisor”;

(v) therefore proposes to reduce the level of Special Responsibility Allowance awarded to Cabinet Advisers, in line with the recommendations of the Panel;

(vi) acknowledges that this reduction in the level of Special Responsibility Allowance for Cabinet Advisers is in addition to a reduction in the number of Cabinet Advisers in recent years by 4 Cabinet Adviser positions, from 14 in 2010/11 to the current level of 10;

(vii) notes the following comments from the report of the Panel - “The Panel notes that the roles of Shadow Cabinet Member and Shadow Cabinet Assistant are not roles recognised by a large majority of other Core Cities or neighbouring authorities for the purposes of the payment of Special Responsibility Allowances.  It also notes that some authorities allocate Special Responsibility Allowances to opposition groups according to the size of the group, whereas no such formula exists in Sheffield’s Scheme. Furthermore, unlike in Sheffield’s Scheme (which only recognises the leader of the largest opposition group on the Council), all opposition group leaders and whips are recognised in some authorities’ schemes.  The Panel recognises the need to adequately support the opposition groups but acknowledges that its roles are that of spokesperson, challenger, scrutineer etc and do not include responsibility for decision-making.  For this reason, the Panel recommends that the Council reviews its arrangements for providing Special Responsibility Allowances to members of opposition groups on the Council”;

(viii) therefore proposes to introduce a formula to allocate Special Responsibility Allowances to opposition groups according to the size of the group, in line with the recommendations of the Panel;

(ix) notes that the introduction of a formula to allocate Special Responsibility Allowances to opposition groups brings the number of Special Responsibility Allowances awarded to Opposition Members more into line with the practice in other authorities;

(x) confirms that changes to opposition group Special Responsibility Allowances does not impact on the status of the Shadow Cabinet; and

(xi) further confirms that as a result of the full range of changes to Special Responsibility Allowances in 2013/14, members of the ruling group will be subject to a greater total level of savings than Opposition Members;

(c)        accordingly, and having regard to the recommendations contained in the Panel’s report, together with the information contained in the report of the Executive Director, Resources, now submitted, a Members’ Allowances Scheme comprising the arrangements approved and adopted by the City Council at its meeting held on 3^rd March, 2010, be approved and adopted with immediate effect for the remainder of 2013/14 and onwards, with the following variations in relation to the responsibilities/duties in respect of which Special Responsibility Allowances are to be made available, and the rates of those Allowances:-

(vii)        the posts of Chairs of Community Assemblies be removed from Band B1 and, on a provisional basis pending the outcome of the consultation currently being undertaken on locality management arrangements, 7 posts of Local Action Partnership Chair be established with a Special Responsibility Allowance to be included in Band B2, and be payable from the date of formal approval of the new locality management arrangements;

(viii)      the role of Lead Member for Scrutiny be formally recognised within the Scheme, but in view of the current structure and delivery of the scrutiny function in the Council, the role be included in Band B1 along with the posts of Chairs of the Scrutiny and Policy Development Committees (one of whom is also appointed to perform the role of Lead Member);

(ix)         the post of Leader of the largest group (not forming the Executive) be retained at Band B1 but be redesignated as “Leader of Opposition Groups” and be made subject to a qualifying threshold whereby it becomes payable to leaders of opposition groups with more than 20% of the membership of the Council;

(x)          the posts of Cabinet Adviser be removed from Band B2 and placed on a new Band to be established with a rate of allowance at the mid-point between Band B2 and Band C;

(xi)         no change be made at this point to the level of the allowance for the role of Chair of Planning and Highways Committee (i.e. Band B2), irrespective of the introduction of a single Committee in 2013/14; and

(xii)        the posts of Shadow Cabinet Member (on Band B2) and Shadow Cabinet Assistant (on Band C) be removed and new posts of Opposition Group Office Holders be established on Band B2, and the number of posts for which that allowance is payable be made subject to a qualifying threshold as follows:-

·         with more than 40% membership of the Council (3);

·         with more than 30% membership of the Council (2)

·         with more than 20% membership of the Council (1)

(d)       accordingly, a new Schedule 1 to the Members’ Allowances Scheme (which specifies the special responsibilities in respect of which Special Responsibility Allowances are payable, and the amounts of those allowances per annum) be approved as follows:-

            Leader (£18,167.68)

            Band A (£9,083.86)

·         Deputy Leader

·         Cabinet Members

            Band B (£7,509.32)

·         Lead Member for Scrutiny

·         Chairs of Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee

·         Leader of Opposition Groups with more than 20% of the membership of the Council

            Band C (£5,268.63)

·         Chair of Planning and Highways Committee

·         Chair of Licensing Committee

·         Local Action Partnership Chair

·         Opposition Group Office Holders-

-       with more than 40% membership of the Council (3)

-       with more than 30% membership of the Council (2)

-       with more than 20% membership of the Council (1)

            Band D (£4,148.29)

·         Cabinet Adviser

            Band E (£3,027.95)

·         Deputy Chair of Licensing Committee

            Pensions Authority

·         Member (£3,385.22)

·         Chair (£11,207.97)

·         Vice Chair (£5,603.99)

(e)       arrangements be made for role descriptions to be produced and published on the Council’s website for each of the roles for which Special Responsibility Allowances are paid;

(f)        it be made explicit in the Scheme that the dependent carers’ allowance would not be paid where caring duties have been performed by a member of the Councillor’s immediate family;

(g)       (i) as regards the annual index-linked increase, it be confirmed that, as in previous years, the annual index in relation to Basic, Special Responsibility (including the Pensions Authority), Co-optees and Dependent Carers’ Allowances shall be the average percentage officer pay award in Sheffield, and in relation to travel and subsistence, the annual index shall be the relevant officer rates agreed from time to time; such arrangements to be implemented for a period of four years and (ii) however, no annual increase be implemented during 2013/14 in relation to Basic, Special Responsibility (including the Pensions Authority), Co-optees and Dependent Carers’ Allowances;

(h)       the revised Scheme for 2013/14 appended to this amendment, which incorporates the changes set out in paragraphs (c), (d), (f) and (g) above, and contains (in the interests of enhancing clarity and transparency) more comprehensive detail on the current arrangements for the availability and payment of travel and subsistence allowances and definition of “approved duties”, be approved;

(i)         it be noted that Sheffield is to relinquish its chairship of the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority with effect from 2013/14, and that this will result in a financial saving to the Council; and

(j)         it be noted that the effect of the revisions to the Special Responsibility Allowance aspects of the Members’ Allowances Scheme and the appointments to be made earlier at this meeting to positions of special responsibility, results in a full year saving to the Members’ Allowances budget totalling approximately £96K and an in-year saving for the remainder of 2013/14 of approximately £84K (see calculations below), and the freezing of Members’ allowances in 2013/14 avoids a further cost pressure on that budget of 1% in 2013/14 (approximately £15K).

Savings calculation:

Special Responsibility Allowances:

- Chairs of Community Assemblies/Local Action Partnership Chair – 7 reduced allowances of £2,240.69 = £15,684.83;

- Cabinet Advisers – 10 reduced allowances of £1,120.34 = £11,203.40;

- Chair of Planning & Highways Cttee – 1 less allowance of £5,268.63;

- Shadow Cabinet Members/Opposition Group Office Holders – 7 less allowances of £5,268.63 = £36,880.41; and

- Pensions Authority Chair – 1 less allowance of £11,207.97.

Total SRA saving = £80,245.24 + 20% NI & Superannuation costs (actual savings depend on the individual circumstances of the Members affected) = £96,294.29.  10.5 months to end of financial year = 2013/14 SRA saving of approximately £84,257.50.

Plus cost pressure saving of approximately £15,000 due to non-implementation of annual increase on allowances in 2013/14.

Total approximate savings for 2013/14 of £99K.