Independent Remuneration Panel Report

The Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) has the function of providing Bracknell Forest Council with advice on its Members’ Allowances Scheme and the nature and level of allowances to be paid. The Council must have regard to this advice when amending its scheme. The role of the IRP in 2009 was to undertake a full review of the Council’s Members’ Allowances Scheme, looking particularly at the operation of the current scheme within the new legislative context. The review involved using a wide range of evidence to consider the current arrangements.

At its full Council meeting on Wednesday 3 March 2010, Bracknell Forest Council approved the majority of the recommendations received from an Independent Remuneration Panel in respect of its scheme for the payment of allowances to Members.

The main features of the Panel’s recommendations were:

That reimbursement for travel to approved duties within the borough be restricted to travel by bicycle.
That reimbursement for travel to approved duties outside the borough be calculated on a capped casual user rate, that the passenger supplement be restricted to 4 and that these must be fellow Councillors and/or Officers in Bracknell or from a neighbouring authority.
Clarification that the basic allowance covers all incidental expenses not otherwise expressly specified in the Members Allowances Scheme.
That the Chairman of Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel should be paid a special responsibility allowance (SRA) at the same level as the other Panel Chairmen.
That a SRA should be paid to the Chairman of the Governance and Audit Committee at £2,201.
That the SRA should be frozen for the Chairman of the Planning and Highways Committee at its current level.
Excepting the above that there should be no changes in the level of special responsibility allowances (SRAs) or other allowances, nor any additional SRAs or other allowances.
That there should be no changes to the current terms, conditions and rates at which subsistence can be reimbursed or Dependants’ Carers’ Allowance can be claimed.

The Council did not approve the recommendation to increase Members’ basic allowance by £100 or to decrease the SRA for the Leader of the Opposition, to £11,235.

The Council agreed that the SRAs for the Chairman of Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Chairman of the Governance and Audit Committee would be applied from the date they were appointed but all other recommendations would apply from 1 April 2010.

Copies of the Panel’s report are available for inspection by the public, during normal office hours, at the Council Offices at Easthampstead House, Town Square, Bracknell RG12 1AQ, or can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page.