For many years councillors’ allowances have been reviewed by an independent panel. Their recommendations are then put forward to councillors, who decide collectively whether to accept or reject those proposals.
We adopted this approach again this year, and the panel looked at the new administrative arrangements that resulted from my election in May and the changes that has brought.
You can download a copy of the panel's report at the bottom of this page.
However, now that we have had a belated opportunity to read and consider the panel’s full report, it is very clear that the package of proposals is never going to be acceptable to us.
Not only are the proposals not fully costed and likely to lead to an overall increase in the budget – at a time when everything else is under threat of government cuts - but the recommendations to reduce councillors to one per ward and amalgamate the office of Lord Mayor are completely unacceptable.
Although it is vitally important that members’ remuneration continues to be set on the basis of independent recommendation, it is clear that this report does not provide a basis for taking such a decision.
Next steps
I have therefore decided that we must find an appropriate source of completely independent advice from outside of Leicester and make it absolutely clear that their proposals must be fully and openly costed and that the overall package must lead to a reduction in the total current costs of Members and Civic allowances, support, travel, administration and hospitality.
When these arrangements have been set up I will update the information on this page.
Get the report
You can download a Portable Document Format (PDF) copy of the independent panel report below.
You'll need Adobe Reader to view this, which can be downloaded from the Adobe website*.
*External links open new windows. Leicester City Council is not responsible for the content and services on external websites or any software downloaded to your computer.
