Expenses vote sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ warning
Open letter to be published in Thursday’s Wokingham Paper
Resignation in light of councillors’ vote
THE panel that advised Wokingham Borough Councillors on its expenses have all resigned following a vote at last week’s council meeting.
And in their resignation letter, they warn that the decision made by councillors sets a “dangerous precedent” that is not in the interest of Wokingham’s council tax payers.
Last Thursday, Cllr Keith Baker asked councillors to ignore a recommendation by the Independent Remuneration Panel to curb Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs). These are additional payments given to councillors who sit on additional committees.
Currently there is a limit of one such payment to councillors who are part of the Executive, with no such limit for other councillors. The panel recommended that Wokingham Borough Council should follow the pattern of other councils by restricting payments of SRAs to just one per member.
But Cllr Keith Baker said that the panel’s recommendations should be ignored, as other local council’s arrangements were not on a like-for-like basis with Wokingham’s.
“As ever, the devil is in the detail,” he told the chamber.
A named vote saw Cllr Baker’s recommendation passed, but more councillors abstained or voted against the motion than for.
In light of the verdict, the panel have all resigned.
Expenses panel’s open letter
In an open letter, which will be published in full in Thursday’s Wokingham Paper, the panel said: “We researched this area extensively. No other council in Berkshire allows the payment of more than one SRA to any councillor whether on the Executive or not. In the light of this we recommended that the Council follow their local market and limit any SRAs to one per member.
“We are all extremely disappointed that the Leader of the Council decided not to accept this independent advice … This means that members of the Executive now have no limit on the number of SRAs the Leader can choose to gift them.”
And the panel go on to warn of the dangers of such a decision.
“For the Executive to ignore our advice and to then vote for a potential increase in part of a councillor’s remuneration, which they themselves have suggested, is in our view a dangerous precedent and not in the interests of the Council Tax payers of Wokingham Borough.”
This is not the first time that an Independent Remuneration Panel have resigned over the issues of SRAs.
In 2013, the panel resigned over payments made to newly appointed deputy executive members.
At the time, the then leader of Wokingham Borough Council, Cllr David Lee, pushed through a motion to give the deputies extra payments.
The motion was: “Deputy Executive Members to be paid a Special Responsibility Allowance in the sum of £2,000, backdated from their date of appointment, and a supplementary budget be provided to support the sum of £12,000 that will be required.”
