Contact: Jeff Pattison, tel. 01962 847321
1 Introduction
1.1 At the meeting of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority on 11 February 2004, a report was requested on the feasibility of providing an allowance for those members who sit on Disciplinary or Grievance Panels. The rationale was that involvement in these Panels can require a significant demand on a participating Councillor's time. This report sets out those factors which need to be taken into account.
1 Background to Disciplinary/Grievance Panels
1.1 These Panels are set up on an ad-hoc basis as and when needed. A minimum of three members is required (normally on the basis of 1:1:1), selected from membership of the Personnel Committee or other leading Fire Authority members. There is no regularity in those members who do sit on these Panels. Membership normally turns on which members are available for the dates of the Panel which the Committee will appreciate also needs to take into account the availability of the appellant and his/her representatives. There is also no consistency over how long a Panel needs to conclude the appeal before it.
1.2 Over the last three years (January 2001 to January 2004) there have been 6 Disciplinary/Grievance Panels. The amount of time taken to conclude the appeals was as follows:-
1 Disciplinary x 2 days (3 members)
4 Grievance x 1 day each (3 members)
1 Grievance x 3 days (3 members)
1.3 Over the same three year period the following members have been involved in Disciplinary/Grievance Panels for the amount of time allocated against them.
e.g. Cllr. D. Horne 5 Panels 8 days
Cllr. M. F. Cartwright 3 Panels 5 days
Cllr. Mrs. A. E. Bailey 2 Panels 5 days
Cllr. M. J. Woodhall 1 Panel 2 days
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Cllrs. Bolt; Gausden & Mrs. J. P. Watson were also involved but are no longer HFRA members.
1.4 There were 8 members of Personnel Committee who were not involved in any Disciplinary/Grievance Panels. Of these, 4 members have attended the HFRS organised seminar for elected members on Disciplinary Regulations etc. on 12 December 2001. It might be helpful for a further seminar(s) to be organised.
2 The Statutory Framework
2.1 The range of allowances that the Authority may pay to its members is governed by "The Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003". By virtue of these Regulations the Authority may pay Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances which are the pertinent ones in respect of the issue under consideration.
2.2 The Basic Allowance is an annual allowance which must be the same for each member of the Authority. Government guidance explains that this allowance is "intended to recognise the time commitment of all councillors, including such inevitable calls on their time as meetings with officers and constituents and attendance at political group meetings". Furthermore, that "it is important that some element of the work of members continues to be voluntary - that some hours are not remunerated".
2.3 The Special Responsibility Allowance is an annual allowance which "may be paid to those members... who have significant additional responsibilities, over and above the generally accepted duties of a councillor".
2.4 In the case of both allowances, although they are identified as an annual sum, they are paid in accordance with arrangements made by the Authority. The important point to note is that neither of these allowances are based on the attendance of members at meetings. Such a system was previously allowed by Regulations, but this power has now been revoked.
2.5 The current position is that the Members' Allowances Scheme does not provide for the payment of allowances solely on the basis of a members attendance at particular meetings.
2.6 The Regulations then go on to specify the categories within which it may be appropriate for the Authority to pay a Special Responsibility Allowance. There is one particular category that may be relevant to the issue under consideration, i.e.,
Regulation 5(1)(e)
Acting as a member of a committee or sub-committee of the authority which meets with exceptional frequency or for exceptionally long periods.
2.7 "Exceptional" is not defined in the Regulations but an ordinary interpretation may be taken to mean very unusual. There is a paragraph in Government guidance which may further assist members:-
"It does not necessarily follow that a particular responsibility which is vested to a particular member is a significant additional responsibility for which a special responsibility allowance should be paid. Local authorities will need to consider such particular responsibilities very carefully. Whilst such responsibilities may be unique to a particular member it may be that all or most members have some such responsibility to varying degrees. Such duties may not lead to a significant extra workload for any one particular member above another. These sorts of responsibilities should be recognised as a time commitment to council work which is acknowledged within the basic allowance and not responsibilities for which a special responsibility allowance should be recommended."
It is not considered that the number and duration of Disciplinary/Grievance Panels over the three year period identified at paragraph 2.2 above meets the "exceptional" criteria referred to in Regulation 5(1)(e) above.
3.8 The members' allowances schemes for the constituent authorities have also been considered. Neither Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth, Southampton City Councils nor any of the district councils provide for an allowance for those members who sit on Disciplinary or Grievance Panels. It is not known whether this is because these Councils did not consider the circumstances exceptional enough, that the duties involved should be subsumed within the Basic Allowance or for some other reason. Of those authorities only Southampton, Fareham and Winchester pay a Special Responsibility Allowance for the Chairman of such Panels and Winchester is to discontinue this.
3.9 Regulation 5(1)(e) does imply consistency in terms of the membership of the Committee and the work that they collectively undertake, either in relation to the exceptional frequency of meetings or their exceptional duration. The difficulty with Disciplinary and Grievance Panels is that they are ad-hoc. It cannot be assessed, in advance, how frequently they will meet, if at all, in any on year. It is also not known, until the Panel has been established, which members will be involved or how long they are likely to be involved in the Panel. This makes it impossible, with current arrangements, to fairly assess at the start of the year an annual Special Responsibility Allowance payable to those members who sit on Disciplinary and Grievance Panels.
3.10 This situation is clearly different from the position of say the independent members of the Standards Committee, where it is known at the start of the year how many meetings have been established and their likely duration. A rate for each meeting can then be identified and rounded up to an annual payment. However, even in this situation, if the Standards Committee is required to deal with several referrals from the Standards Board, which may individually take a similar period to deal with as Disciplinary and Grievance Panels., the independent members will not receive any extra remuneration for that effort. It will be subsumed into their annual allowance.
3 Conclusion
4.1 It is clearly a matter for members to determine whether or not the circumstances justify a Special Responsibility Allowance for those members who sit on Disciplinary/Grievance Panels on behalf of the Authority. The information contained in the report suggests that it would probably not be justified to do so.
4.2 If members, nonetheless considered it justified to provide an allowance an annual amount would need to be assessed on the basis of a daily rate of £125 recommended on 25 February 2004 by the Local Government Association. Difficulty over identifying the recipients of the allowance could probably best be resolved by identifying a dedicated group of say, five members to deal with all appeals with an assessment of the likely number of Panel meetings being necessary in any one year and deriving an annual figure from that.
4.3 A further option would be to ask the Independent Remuneration Panel to consider this issue when they next meet to assess the allowances for 2005/06.
Recommendation
That the Standards Committee decide what action, if any, that they would recommend the Authority to take on the question of a Special Responsibility Allowance for those members sitting on Disciplinary/Grievance Panels.