Agenda and minutes

There was no notification of substitute members received.

Members are reminded of their obligation under the Council’s Code of Conduct to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Significant Interests in any matter(s) to be considered or being considered at the meeting. These are explained in the Code of Conduct on the Council’s website at Code of conduct for members – Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (tmbc.gov.uk).

Members in any doubt about such declarations are advised to contact Legal or Democratic Services in advance of the meeting.

The Monitoring Officer had granted a dispensation to allow all Members of the Committee to participate in the discussion on Members Allowances and to consider and vote upon the recommendations contained within the report of the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel under s33 of the Localism Act 2011.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of General Purposes Committee held on 15 March 2023.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 15 March 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The report sets out a recent review of Members’ Allowances undertaken by the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel (JIRP) and Members of the Committee are asked to consider the independent report of the JIRP and make appropriate recommendations to Full Council.

The report of the Management Team set out details of a recent review undertaken by the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel (JIRP) on the Scheme of Members’ Allowances and summarised the key recommendations arising from the Panel at 1.2.4 of the report.  Management Team advised that the recommendations of the Panel, if adopted, would produce a saving of circa £45,900 when compared to the budget included within the 2023/24 Estimates.

The Committee recognised the considerable work undertaken by the Panel in evaluating the role undertaken by Members and acknowledged the case made for a reduction in the Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) for the Deputy Leader.  However, the Committee felt that it was neither appropriate nor fair to reduce the allowance in consideration of the significant responsibilities of this role.

Members recognised the value and role of the vice-chairs and considered it appropriate to set an allowance to vice-chairs at a level based on 25% of the relevant chairman’s allowance.

Following a comprehensive debate it was

RECOMMENDED*:  That

(1)        the Basic Allowance payable to all Members remain at its current level of £5,175 per annum;

(2)        the level of the Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA) be set as follows:

(a)        the Leader’s Allowance remain at £20,706 per annum;

(b)        the SRA for the Deputy Leader remain at £15,528 per annum (circa 75% of the Leader’s Allowance);

(c)        the SRAs for Cabinet Members remain at £8,802 per annum;

(d)        the SRAs for Committee Chairs be set as follows:

            (i)         Area Planning Committees (x 3) - £1,725 per annum;

            (ii)        Audit Committee - £2,589 per annum;

            (iii)       General Purposes Committee - £1,725 per annum;

            (iv)       Joint Standards Committee - £2,589 per annum;

            (v)        Licensing and Appeals Committee - £2,589 per annum;

            (vi)       Overview and Scrutiny Committee - £2,589 per annum;

            (vii)      Scrutiny Select Committees (x 3) - £2,589 per annum;

(e)        the SRAs for qualifying** opposition group leaders be set at a flat sum of £4,401 per annum, and where applicable, a maximum of one additional SRA per Member (excluding group leader allowances) be applied;

            **To qualify, neither the leader of an opposition group nor any members of the leader’s group can serve on Cabinet.

(f)        the SRAs for vice-chairs be set at 25% of the relevant Committee Chairs’ allowances as follows:

            (i)         Area Planning Committees (x 3) - £431 per annum;

            (ii)        Audit Committee - £647 per annum;

            (iii)       General Purposes Committee - £431 per annum;

            (iv)       Joint Standards Committee - £647 per annum;

            (v)        Licensing and Appeals Committee - £647 per annum;

            (vi)       Overview and Scrutiny Committee - £647 per annum;

            (vii)      Scrutiny Select Committees (x 3) - £647 per annum;

(3)        the Mileage Allowances remain at the HMRC approved rate;

(4)        the existing scheme for meal and/or subsistence allowances be ceased;

(5)        the carers’ allowances be set at a maximum rate of £10.42 per hour per child (linked to the National Living Wage) for general childcare and £18.00 per hour for dependent carers;

(6)        the allowances, including those for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item GP 23/23

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

The Chairman moved, it was seconded and

RESOLVED:  That as public discussion would disclose exempt information, the following matters be considered in private.

This report seeks Members’ recommendation on a number of options to address the recruitment and retention issues within the Planning Services.

(Reasons: LGA 1972 - Sch 12A Paragraph 1 – Information relating to an individual)

Careful consideration was given to a number of options proposed to address the recruitment and retention issues in the Planning Service within the context of the national picture of staffing situation in council planning departments.

Members had due regard to the recruitment campaigns undertaken in the past year, the interim staffing costs, the benchmark data on salary packages from Kent district councils, the risk assessment and the legal, financial and value for money considerations arising from the proposals, with particular reference made to maintaining competitiveness of the Borough Council in the recruitment market for the qualified Planner posts.

RECOMMENDED*:  That

(1)        a £5,000 annual market supplement payment (pro-rata’d for part-time staff) be paid to all current and future recruited qualified** Planning staff for a period of two years, subject to annual review thereafter;

            **To qualify, the postholder must hold a degree or postgraduate qualification accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute as stipulated in the Person Specification of their post in Planning.

(2)        a £3,000 ‘Golden Hello’ payment be paid to newly recruited Planning staff joining the Borough Council in posts in Planning of which the Person Specification stipulates that the postholder must hold a degree or postgraduate qualification accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute, subject to review; and

(3)        the aggregated cost of the market supplement payments and the ‘Golden Hello’ payments, estimated to be circa £320k over the two-year review period, be met from the Budget Stabilisation Reserve.

*Referred to Council

This report sets out for Members’ approval a number of establishment changes recommended by Management Team.  Members should note that, in accordance with adopted conventions, all of the savings/costs referred to in this report reflect the salary at the top of the scale/grade plus associated on costs.

(Reasons: LGA 1972 - Sch 12A Paragraph 1 – Information relating to an individual)

The report set out for Members’ approval a number of establishment changes recommended by Management Team.  Members noted that, in accordance with adopted conventions, all of the savings/costs referred to in the report reflected the salary at the top of the scale/grade plus associated on costs.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)        post DF1123, Overpayment Recovery Assistant, scale 2/3, 37 hours, be deleted;

(2)        a new Overpayment Recovery Officer post, at scale 2/3/4 for 30 hours per week, be created;

(3)        post DJ0210, Building Control Surveyor, grade M9, 25.5 hours per week, be deleted;

(4)        post DJ0216, Building Control Surveyor, grade M9, 37 hours per week, be deleted;

(5)        a new Senior Building Control Surveyor post, M8, 37 hours per week, be created;

(6)        the permanent increase in hours of the Building Control Technician post DJ0213 by correcting the hours from 22.5 to 29.5 per week be approved;

(7)        the temporary increase of the Building Control Technician post DJ0213 to a Senior Building Control Technician grade 5/6 for a period of six months and the increase in the hours to 35.5 per week for a period of six months be approved; and

(8)        the ‘ringfencing’ of the savings made by the deletion of post DJ0210 for a period of six months to allow time to review the needs of the Building Control service be agreed.