Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) Regulations 1991
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1991/351 |
| Year | 1991 |
1991 No. 351
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND AND WALES
The Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) Regulations 1991
Made 28th February 1991
Laid before Parliament 28th February 1991
The Secretary of State for the Environment, as respects England, and the Secretary of State for Wales, as respects Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by sections 173, 175(1A), 177(1)(b) and (f), 177(2), 178(1) and 270(1) of the Local Government Act 19721, sections 18 and 190(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 19892and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:—
PART I
GENERAL
Citation and commencement
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) Regulations 1991.
(2) This Part (except for regulation 3) and Parts II to IV of these Regulations shall come into force on 1st March 1991.
(3) The remainder of these Regulations shall come into force on 1st April 1991.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations–
“the 1972 Act” means the Local Government Act 1972;
“the 1985 Act” means the Local Government Act 19853;
“the 1989 Act” means the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;
“joint authority” means an authority established under Part IV of the 1985 Act;
“year” means the 12 months ending with 31st March.
Prescribed bodies
3. The following bodies (being bodies on which a body to which sections 174 and 175 of the 1972 Act apply by virtue of section 177(1)(a) of that Act is represented) are prescribed pursuant to section 177(1)(b) of the 1972 Act–
(a) a joint committee of two or more local authorities, whether appointed or established under Part VI of that Act or any other enactment;
(b) a joint education committee established under paragraph 3 of Part IIof Schedule 1 to the Education Act 19444; and
(c) the Cheshire Brine Subsidence Compensation Board.
Members of authorities to be treated as councillors
4. For the purposes of section 18 of the 1989 Act, a member of a joint authority who is appointed to that authority by a metropolitan district council, a London borough council, Northumberland County Council or the Common Council of the City of London shall be treated as if he were a councillor, and references in Parts II to IV to councillors shall be construed accordingly.
PART II
SCHEMES FOR MEMBERS' ALLOWANCES
Application of Part II and interpretation
5.—(1) This Part applies to–
(a)
(a) any county council;
(b)
(b) any district council;
(c)
(c) any London borough council;
(d)
(d) any joint authority; and
(e)
(e) the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
(2) For the purposes of this Part –
(a)
(a) members of an authority are to be treated as divided into political groups if they are so treated for the purposes of section 15 (political balance on committees etc.) of the 1989 Act; and “political group” shall be construed accordingly;
(b)
(b) the term of office of a councillor who is a member of an authority specified in paragraph (1) other than a joint authority shall begin on the date on which he makes a declaration of acceptance of that office under section 83(1) of the 1972 Act5.
Allowance schemes
6.—(1) Before 1st April 1991 each authority shall make a scheme in accordance with these Regulations for the payment of allowances in respect of the year commencing on that date and subsequent years.
(2) When a scheme is revoked in accordance with regulation 7(1), an authority shall before the revocation takes effect make a further scheme for the period beginning with the date on which the revocation takes effect.
Amendment of schemes
7.—(1) A scheme under this Part may be amended at any time but may only be revoked with effect from the beginning of a year.
(2) Where an amendment is to be made which affects an allowance payable for the year in which the amendment is made, the scheme shall provide–
(a)
(a) if the amendment affects such an allowance as is mentioned in regulation 8 or 9, that in relation to each of the periods–
(i) beginning with the year and ending with the day before that on which the first amendment in that year takes effect, and
(ii) beginning with the day on which an amendment takes effect and ending with the day before that on which the next amendment takes effect, or (if none) with the year,
the entitlement to such an allowance shall be to payment of such part of the amount of the allowance under the scheme as it has effect during the relevant period as bears to the whole the same proportion as the number of days in the period bears to the number of days in the year;
(b)
(b) if the amendment affects such an allowance as is mentioned in regulation 10, that the entitlement to such an allowance shall be to payment of the amount of the allowance under the scheme as it has effect when the duty is carried out.
Basic allowances
8.—(1) A scheme made under this Part shall provide for the payment for each year to which the scheme relates of an allowance (“basic allowance”) to each member of the authority who is a councillor; and the amount of such allowance shall be the same for each such member.
(2) The scheme shall provide that, where the term of office of a member begins or ends otherwise than at the beginning or end of a year, his entitlement shall be to payment of such part of the basic allowance as bears to the whole the same proportion as the number of days during which his term of office as member and councillor subsists bears to the number of days in that year.
(3) Where a scheme is amended as mentioned in paragraph (2) of regulation 7 and the term of office of a member who is a councillor does not subsist throughout the whole of a period mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of that paragraph, the scheme shall provide that the entitlement of any such member under this regulation shall be to payment of such part of the basic allowance referable to each such period (ascertained in accordance with that sub-paragraph) as bears to the whole the same proportion as the number of days during which his term of office as member and councillor subsists in that period bears to the number of days in the period.
Special responsibility allowances
9.—(1) A scheme made under this Part shall provide, in accordance with paragraph (2), for the payment for each year to which that scheme relates of an allowance (“special responsibility allowance”) to such members of the authority who are councillors as have such special responsibilities in relation to the authority as are specified in the scheme and are within one or more of the following categories–
(a)
(a) acting as leader or deputy leader of a political group within the authority;
(b)
(b) presiding at meetings of a committee or a sub-committee of the authority, or a joint committee of the authority and one or more other authorities, or a subcommittee of such a joint committee;
(c)
(c) representing the authority at meetings of, or arranged by, any other body;
(d)
(d) membership of a committee or a sub-committee of the authority which meets with exceptional frequency or for exceptionally long periods;
(e)
(e) acting as the spokesman of a political group on a committee or sub-committee of the authority;
(f)
(f) such other activities in relation to the discharge of the authority’s functions as require of the member an amount of time and effort equal to or greater than would be required of him by any one of the activities mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (e) (whether or not that activity is specified in the scheme).
(2) The scheme shall–
(a)
(a) specify the amount of each special responsibility allowance, which need not be the same; and
(b)
(b) provide that, where–
(i) members of an authority are divided into at least two groups constituted in accordance with regulation 8 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 19906, and
(ii) either a majority of members of the authority, or half of such members and the chairman of the authority, belong to the same political group (“the controlling group”),
a special responsibility allowance shall be paid to at least one person who is not a member of the controlling group and has special responsibilities described in paragraph (1)(a) or (e); and
(c)
(c) provide that, where a member does not have throughout a year any such special responsibilities as entitle him to a special responsibility allowance, his entitlement shall be to payment of such part of that allowance as bears to the whole the same proportion as the number of days during which he has such special responsibilities bears to the number of days in that year; and
(d)
(d) provide that, where a scheme is amended as mentioned in paragraph (2) of regulation 7 and a member does not have throughout the whole of any period mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of that paragraph any such special responsibilities as entitle him to a special responsibility allowance, his entitlement shall be to payment of such part of the allowance referable to each such period (ascertained in accordance with that sub-paragraph) as bears to the whole the same proportion as the number of days in that period during which he has such special responsibilities bears to the number of days in the period.
Attendance allowances
10.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), a scheme made under this Part may provide for the payment to each member of the authority who is a councillor of an allowance (“attendance allowance”) in respect of–
(a)
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