The government department in charge of setting allowances for local authority members has performed a U-turn on a suggestion that could have seen some politicians claiming 160 per cent more for going to meetings.
In March, the Department of Infrastructure’s local government unit sent letters to local authorities about the issue.
Members can presently claim £30 each for attendance per meeting, but the DoI proposal was that this payment could increase to £78 per session to reflect the levels paid to non-Tynwald members, which serve on bodies such as the Work Permit Appeal Tribunal, Office of Fair Trading, and Education Council among others.
The 160 per cent rise would have been met by ratepayers.
{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/invitation-to-claim-more-expenses-from-our-rates-1-5506243|Click here for a reminder of our story in March.}
Many authorities rejected the idea.
But Douglas Council, which meets in the daytime at a time when many councillors have to take time off work, was different. Most boards of commissioners meet in the evening.
In April, the council voted unanimously to support a proposal for members’ allowances to increase to a minimum of £40 per meeting.
{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/councillors-say-we-re-paid-less-than-the-minimum-wage-1-5586385|Click here for a reminder about that story and the town council leader’s accusation that the ‘gutter press’ was ‘whipping up a frenzy’ about the issue.}
Now, instead of the £78 idea, the Department of Infrastructure is proposing a new order, which would allow local authorities greater flexibility in determining attendance allowance rates by introducing a distinction between attendance at daytime and evening meetings, while also prescribing different rates for those meetings.
Following representations early in 2013 and consultation with all local authorities and joint boards, the department has determined that a compromise proposal should be put forward and this is due to go to Tynwald in November 2013.
In a press statement, the DoI said: ‘The responses from authorities and boards to the consultation were largely in favour of keeping attendance allowance rates at the existing levels and the department does recognise that a number of elected members working at authorities do not claim allowances at all, which is a personal matter.
‘However, the department identified that a number of authorities were moving more towards holding meetings during the daytime and that members’ attendance allowance rates were not reflective of this change in approach.
‘As the vast majority of local authority meetings are held during the evening, the department is proposing to keep the rate of attendance at £30 maximum per evening session (this is in accordance with the majority of views received during the consultation).
‘An hourly rate of £7.50 is also being proposed to help reduce costs, in the event that meetings are shorter. However, the annual maximum attendance allowance claimable for evening meetings only, is to remain at £3.600 per annum.’
To address concerns raised by some authorities that existing rates were too low for the amount of time that some members had to spend at meetings, the department is proposing to introduce a new daytime rate of £12.50 per hour up to a maximum of £50 per daytime session (equivalent of four hours).
A new maximum attendance allowance claimable for daytime or a mix of daytime and evening meetings would be set at £6,000 per person per year..
It is intended that if approved, any changes will come into operation from April 1.