The Democratic Services Manager presented a report which advised the Democratic Services Committee of the draft Annual Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) for Wales in respect of the level and range of remuneration the Authority must make available to its Members for the 2021/2022 municipal year.

He asked that the Committee also provide any comments and recommendations to Council in respect of the Draft Annual Report 2021/2022.

The Democratic Services Manager advised that the 2021/2022 was the thirteenth Annual Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (the Panel), and the tenth published under the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 (attached as Appendix 1). The Measure extended the responsibilities of the Panel and its powers under Section 142 to decide (prescribe) payments to members of relevant authorities.

He added that representatives of the Panel have held consultation meetings remotely on their proposals, which was attended by the Chairperson of the Democratic Services Committee and the Head of Democratic Services.

The determinations from the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales Annual Report 2021 were shown at Appendix 2 of the report.

The Democratic Services Manager explained that while financial constraints on the public sector remain, the Panel considered that an increase in the basic salary was justified and had proposed an increase of £150 per annum (1.06%) to the basic salary for members of principal councils effective from 1 April 2021. The proposed increase applied to the basic salary for members of principal councils is in recognition of the basic duties expected of all Elected Members.  The basic salary in 2021/2022 for Elected Members of principal councils shall be £14,368, this was shown at Determination 1.   

Similarly, the Panel has determined that senior salaries was to be increased at the same rate as basic salaries which was 1.06%, which was shown at Determination 2.  He added that no additional increases were to be paid to senior salary holders in 2021/2022.  The Panel considered that Leaders and members of the executive carry the greatest individual accountability.  The Panel proposed to increase the salaries of the Executive, Committee Chairs and the Group Leader to the following levels:

The Panel alsodetermined which was at Determination 3 that where paid, civic salaries be paid as follows:

A Member asked in relation to page 34, section 3.22 of the report whereby it states Members should already have use of electronic email services and the ability to access information electronically, what Members thoughts were on this. He added that during the Covid-19 Pandemic, Members had needed to work from home. Was it expected of Members to have the internet facilities in place, or did Members feel they needed to establish this as a result of Covid-19.

The Committee discussed this point and concluded that appropriate internet facilities were something that Members would have already had prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic, and believed that they did not need reimbursement for costs related to broadband.

A Member raised the issue that the Chairperson of Democratic Services Committee was not a paid position, but believed that it shared similar responsibilities as other Chairpersons and therefore should be remunerated accordingly. Members asked that this be raised at Council so that it could be looked in to further.

A Member raised that there was availability of tax relief in relation to the Covid 19 pandemic that was not widely known about. He proposed that information be made available on the Councils website to signpost Members to the HMRC website for more information

RESOLVED: That the Democratic Services Committee commented on the Draft Annual Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales 2021/2022 and provided the following recommendations to Council:

• The potential remuneration of the Chairperson of Democratic Services Committee be discussed and looked into;
• Information be made available on the Council’s website to signpost Members to the HMRC website for more information relating to tax relief.