Issue - meetings

The Monitoring Officer presented a report on the Members’ Allowances Scheme 2023/24.

Further to changes to the Members Allowance Scheme in 2022, the 2022 London Councils Independent Remuneration Panel (LCIRP) report recommended that Basic Allowances and SRAs should be linked to the local government staff pay award each year, as a way of ensuring that councillors received annual increases in line with those received by staff. Although that proposal did not form part of the recommendations to the Assembly last year, it was now proposed that the staff pay award for the preceding year be applied to the Basic Allowance and SRAs going forward (ie. the average local government staff pay award of 6.6% for the 2022/23 financial year be applied to the 2023/24 Members’ Allowances Scheme).

The report also proposed the standardisation of an annual uplift to the Dependants’ Carers’ Allowance in line with the effective date of the London Living Wage.

The Assembly resolved to:

(i)  Agree that the Basic Allowance paid to all councillors and Special Responsibility Allowances be increased annually in line with the average local government staff pay award for the preceding year;

(ii)  Agree that the Dependants’ Carers’ Allowance be increased in line with the effective date of any uplift to the London Living Wage; and

(iii)  Adopt the Members’ Allowances Scheme 2023/24 at Appendix A to the report, to be effective from 18 May 2023