Members Allowances

Information on Members Allowances

Members' Allowances

The Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 require Councils to make a scheme of allowances for their Councillors and to establish and maintain an Independent Remuneration Panel to make recommendations to the Council about the scheme and the amounts to be paid.

The Independent Remuneration Panel Report (February 2010) and the Allowances Scheme approved by the Council for 2010-11 can be downloaded from the right hand column of this page.  The Council has frozen the Members' Allowances for the last three years, therefore the rates set for 2010-11 still apply in 2013-14.

The Council is required to publish the total amount of allowances paid to individual Councillors each year and these are also available for downloading.

Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances

Each Councillor receives a Basic Allowance. The Basic Allowance is the same for every Councillor and its purpose is to recognise the time commitment of Councillors and to cover incidental expenses.

The Allowances Scheme also includes Special Responsibility Allowances paid to those Councillors who have significant additional responsibilities over and above the normal work of a ward Councillor. The rate will depend on the level of responsibility.

The Basic and Special Allowance are subject to Income Tax and National Insurance deductions.

Councillors can opt to join the Local Government Pension Scheme. Contributions are based on Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances.

Childcare and Dependent Carers' Allowance

Reimbursement can be claimed through the allowances scheme to Councillors who incur expenditure for the care of children or dependent relatives whilst undertaking particular duties.

Travel Allowances

Councillors can claim Travel Allowances and expenses where expenditure is necessarily and exclusively incurred when undertaking approved duties. Allowance rates are in line with those paid to officers of the authority. Actual costs of rail, taxi, bus fares and other direct costs can also be claimed.

The Mayoral Allowance

The Mayoral Allowance is intended to go some way towards recompensing the Mayor for the expenses of maintaining the dignity of the Office.

The 2012-13 Mayoral Allowance is

Position	Expense
Mayor	£14,450
Deputy Mayor	£940

Expenditure of the Allowance is at the discretion of the Mayor/Deputy Mayor . 

However, a general guide for the use of the Mayoral Allowance includes:-

• Clothing that will be needed for events and engagements throughout the Mayoral year
• Partner’s clothing that will be needed for events and engagements throughout the Mayoral year
• Donations to Charities (including the Mayor’s own choice of charity)
• Contributions to collections
• Purchase of raffle tickets, flag days etc.
• Sending flowers in connection with civic events or engagements, for example attending a 100th Birthday celebration for a local resident etc
• Personal hospitality (including lunches and dinners and other events outside of the approved programme of civic functions) provided by the Mayor
• Partner’s expenses as above
• One-off events held personally by the Mayor

Out of the Civic allowance, it is customary to purchase clothing that will be needed throughout the Mayoral year.

Contact Details

For further information about allowances paid to Councillors, please contact:

Democratic Services
Strategic Services Directorate
P O Box 18
Council House
Solihull
West Midlands
B91 9QS

Telephone: 0121 704 6022

Fax: 0121 704 6056

Email: democraticservices@solihull.gov.uk