Following its meeting on 15 March the Board agreed to consult on a number of issues raised regarding the flexibility of the allowances within the Determination in light of the feedback received from Members and support staff. The Board was proposing to:
- allow the remaining balance of the Staffing Allowance for a Member to be calculated at actual cost rather than potential maximum cost;
- publish the expenditure each individual Member makes on their Staffing Allowance. This would be an annual publication of a Member’s total spend during a financial year on staffing;
- remove the 111 hour cap on permanently employed staff;
- allow Members to vire up to 25 per cent from their Office Cost Allowance into their Staffing Allowance. In addition, the Board is proposing to allow Members to vire the funding available to them through the Policy, Research and Communications Fund into their Staffing Allowance (up to a total of £2,500).
In addition to the proposals outlined above, the Board agreed to seek views on whether any of the issues that are raised above could have an impact, or could they have a potential impact, on people who identify with protected characteristics as defined under the Equality Act 2010.
The consultation ran from 27 March to 11 May 2018.
Decision
The Board considered the consultation responses received at its meeting on 24 May and agreed to implement all of its proposals, which will be phased between 1 October 2018 and 1 April 2019. Full details of the implementation of the proposals are available in the Board’s letter to Members.