Issue - meetings

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 26^th February 2024 were considered.  Members were informed that the recommendations arising from that meeting had previously been approved at the Council meeting held on the same date.  The minutes were being reported for noting, in line with standard practice whereby minutes of Executive Committee meetings were reported to Council.

Members considered recommendations from the meetings of the Executive Committee held on 18^th March and 9^th July 2024.  The Leader confirmed that no recommendations had been agreed at the meeting of the Executive Committee held immediately before Council, as all of the matters had been resolved at that meeting.  Therefore, there were no recommendations arising from that meeting for consideration at Council.

It was noted that the recommendation on the subject of the Productivity Plan discussed at the Executive Committee meeting held on 9^th July would not be considered at this meeting as this had been subject to an urgent decision in order to be submitted to the Government in accordance with the required deadline.

Finance and Performance Quarter 3 Report 2023/24

The Council considered recommendations relating to updated charges for Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) and noting the half yearly Treasury Management report.

Independent Remuneration Panel Members’ Allowances

The Council considered recommendations for the level of Councillors’ allowances for 2024/25. 

The Executive Committee had considered recommendations from the Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP).  The Committee had not recommended acceptance of the IRP’s recommendations in full.

The Executive Committee had not accepted the IRP’s recommendation for an 8.6% increase to the Basic Allowance, which would in fact have represented a 16.6% increase due to the number of years in which no increases had been made to the basic allowance in Redditch.  Instead, the Executive Committee had recommended to the Council that the basic allowance should be increased by 3%, the same percentage as the increase in Council tax. It was noted that if implemented, the 16.6% increase for 2024/25 would have achieved parity with the basic allowance in other Councils.  The view was expressed that the Council would at some stage need to address its historic decisions not to match the IRP recommendations in order to encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to stand for election.  

In proposing the Executive Committee’s recommendations, the Leader pointed out that the size of the Council had reduced by 2 members at the elections in May 2024, which had left some surplus funds in the allowances budget.  It was proposed to increase the Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) for the Chair of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee to £3,500 and for the Group Leader of the opposition to £4,500.  He suggested that these proposed increases reflected the work that these postholders undertook.  These proposals could be accommodated within the total budget.

During consideration of this item the view was expressed that Councillors should not be paid more than one SRA.  However, no agreement was reached on this point.  It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24