To enable the Council to approve the appointment of the members of the Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) following Council’s decision on 30 April 2024 and to ensure compliance with the Section 20 of The Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) England Regulations 2003.

Council considered a report of the Chief Executive (A.7) which sought its approval for the appointment of the members of the Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) following Council’s decision on 30 April 2024 and in order to ensure compliance with Section 20 of The Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) England Regulations 2003.

Members were reminded that there was a requirement, following the decision taken at Full Council on 22nd November 2022 that alternative arrangements for the Council’s IRP be explored further in order to maximise options available with other Councils within Essex and to give consideration to the outcome prior to any future recruitment. 

It was reported that, during 2023, Braintree District Council (BDC) had expressed an interest in joint working on the IRP Members and had advertised to recruit to their IRP role and had included reference to working with other Essex Councils (although Tendring District Council (TDC) had not been specifically named). This Council’s Director (Governance) & Monitoring Officer had taken part in the BDC interview process in 2024 and each candidate had confirmed they would be interested in joint working with TDC, if this was approved locally as an approach going forward. 

Council recalled that the term of office for TDC’s Independent Remuneration Panel had expired in April 2024 and that, following a reference report from the Standards Committee, Council had approved on 30 April 2024 (minute no. 14 referred):–

“(b)   future arrangements continue to be explored for a joint Independent Remuneration Panel with other Councils, and the delegation for recruitment be extended to the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer for recommendations to be made to a future meeting of Full Council; and

(c)  for the purposes of (b) above the term of office of future Independent Remuneration Panel members be for a period of up to 7 years, being staggered if appropriate, to cover the Review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme required for 2026/27 and into the next term of office for District Councillors.”

Following that decision of Full Council in April 2024, the Chief Executive reported that all IRP members appointed by BDC had expressed an interest in being involved with TDC’s IRP and that all six candidates had been individually interviewed by the Chief Executive, the Director (Governance) & Monitoring Officer and the Head of Democratic Services and Elections. 

Council was informed that the experience and/or interest in the role had been of a high standard with a range of backgrounds and that, consequently, the Council would benefit from appointing all six in order to form a pool of members for an IRP to undertake reviews of Members’ Allowance Schemes for the District Council and the District’s Town and Parish Councils. 

The Chief Executive and the Monitoring Officer had therefore recommended to Council that the following candidates be appointed by Tendring District Council for a term of up to seven years:

·      Andy Barton – Self-employed therapist providing services to leaning disabled and elderly clients with a care home setting, spanning 28 care homes across Essex, Suffolk and North.  Experience working on an Independent Panel in Essex.

·      Tricia Bernard - Mental Health Counsellor at a charity based in Essex. Experience working on Independent Panels in Suffolk and Essex.

·      John Bryant BA Hons (QTS) NPQH NPQEL - education background including as a Head Teacher, now freelance and self-employed in a number of roles, covering being a member of governing boards and experience at clerking level.

·      Joy Ikumoinein - Health and Social Care Professional with experience in successfully implementing social care digital systems, building strong relationships and applying innovative approaches to social care.

·      David Irvine – Retired. Currently Independent Person for Tendring District Council and other local authorities.  Independent Person for an Audit Committee. Experience working on Independent Panels in Suffolk and Essex (including Tendring).

·      Georgia Riley – qualified solicitor previous volunteering experience with CAB.  Experience working on an Independent Panel in Essex.

Council was reminded that the current Scheme of Allowances for Members for 2023/24 had been approved in January 2023 and would last until 2027/28.  Therefore, commencement work on reviewing the Allowances Scheme would not be required until the latter part of 2026 however, it was important that the District Council had an established IRP in place, to respond to an earlier review if required, based on circumstances arising.  Therefore, it was proposed that a retainer allowance be made of £300 per annum to all IRP Members and a further £300 for those IRP Members involved in a formal review.  There would however be regular contact with the Panel to keep in touch over the interim period, which would enable information and data to be shared to gain an earlier understanding about the demographics of Tendring and the opportunities and challenges it faced.

It was moved by Councillor M E Stephenson, seconded by Councillor I J Hendersonand:-

RESOLVED that Council -

(a)    upon receiving recommendations from the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, approves the appointment of the following individuals as members of the Independent Remuneration Panel:

(i)         Andy Barton;

(ii)        Tricia Bernard;

(iii)      John Bryant;

(iv)      Joy Ikumoinein;

(v)       David Irvine; and

(vi)      Georgia Riley.

(b)    authorises the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer to determine the individual term of office for those Independent Remuneration Panel Members for a term of up to 7 years;

(c)    subject to (d) below, agrees that the members of the Independent Remuneration Panel will receive an allowance of £300 per annum as a retainer, with an additional £300 allowance for undertaking a formal review of the Members Allowance Scheme; and

(d)    requests Cabinet to establish and approve the allocation of a budget within the relevant financial report to meet the above allowances prior to any payments being made.