Chapter 2: Remuneration of Elected Members
Section 56 – Abolition of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales
134.Section 56 abolishes the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales and removes provisions relating to its functions and membership from the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011.
Section 57 – Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru functions relating to remuneration
135.Section 57 inserts Part 5A into the 2013 Act which sets out the functions of the Commission in respect of payments and pensions to members of relevant authorities in Wales (as defined in new section 69C(2) of the 2013 Act) and payments to former members of local authorities in Wales. Part 5A includes the following provisions:
Section 69A – Function relating to payments to members
136.Section 69A sets out the functions of the Commission in respect of payments to members of a relevant authority. For the financial year beginning 1 April 2025 and for each following financial year, the Commission must decide the relevant matters for which a relevant authority is required or is authorised to make payments to members of the authority.
137.“Relevant matters” are defined in subsection (2) as matters that relate to the official business of members (as defined in section 69A(11)) or periods of family absence that members are entitled to have under Part 2 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011.
138.Subsection (3) requires the Commission to set the amount that must be paid to a member or the maximum amount that can be paid to a member. The Commission may decide that payments cannot be paid to more than a fixed proportion or specified number of members of a relevant authority. The proportion or number (as the case may be) cannot exceed 50% unless the Welsh Ministers give their consent.
139.The Commission may set the maximum percentage or other rate by which a relevant authority can adjust for a financial year the amounts that had effect in respect of relevant matters for the previous financial year. An index can also be set.
140.The Commission must, when setting an amount, making a determination or setting a rate or index, take into account the likely financial impact of its decisions on relevant authorities.
Section 69B – Functions relating to members’ pensions
141.Section 69B requires the Commission to decide the descriptions of members of a relevant authority in respect of whom a relevant authority is required to pay a pension. This excludes co-opted members of relevant authorities who are eligible to be members of the Local Government Pension Scheme. The Commission must also decide the relevant matters in respect of which a relevant authority is required to pay a pension.
Section 69C – Relevant authorities, members etc.
142.Section 69C defines certain terms used in Part 5A of the 2013 Act, including “relevant authority” and “members of a relevant authority” and also includes a power to specify a relevant authority in regulations under subsection (2)(e).
Section 69D – Functions relating to resettlement payments
143.Section 69D requires the Commission to make certain decisions about resettlement payments. A resettlement payment is a payment to a person who ceases to be a member of a local authority at the end of their term of office, when in office was a member of a local authority (as defined in section 72 of the 2013 Act) of a description specified in regulations made by the Welsh Ministers, has stood for re-election for membership of the same authority and has not been returned to office at that election.
144.The Commission must decide matters such as the amount of a resettlement payment to be paid, the qualifying conditions for payment and the maximum amount to be paid. The Commission must consider the likely financial impact on local authorities and must review decisions in advance of each local government ordinary election beginning with the election that is to be held in May 2027.
Section 69E – Annual remuneration reports in relation to members of relevant authorities
145.Section 69E requires the Commission to prepare and publish an annual remuneration report about the exercise of its functions under Part 5A no later than 28 February in the financial year before the financial year to which the report relates or such later date as the Commission and the Welsh Ministers agree. The report must contain the information set out in the section.
Section 69F – Supplementary remuneration reports
146.Section 69F enables the Commission to prepare and publish one or more supplementary remuneration reports to its most recent annual remuneration report. The supplementary report may vary provision made in that annual remuneration report or make any provision the annual remuneration report could have made.
Section 69G – Further provision about annual reports and supplementary reports
147.Section 69G requires the Commission, before publishing an annual or supplementary remuneration report, to send a draft of that report to certain bodies and persons and publish the draft report as soon as practicable after sending it. When preparing an annual or supplementary remuneration report, the Commission must take into account the last annual remuneration report and any supplementary remuneration report and representations received about these reports and the draft reports.
Section 69H – Directions to reconsider draft reports
148.Section 69H enables the Welsh Ministers to direct the Commission to reconsider a provision of a draft annual or draft supplementary remuneration report. It sets out the information that must be specified in a direction, including the reason for giving the direction and a specified date for response. The Commission is not obliged to vary the draft report but must respond and include its rationale if it decides not to vary the draft report.
Section 69I – Commission’s publication and notification duties in relation to reports
149.Section 69I sets out duties in respect of publishing the annual and supplementary remuneration reports, including the requirement that the Commission allows a minimum period of eight weeks for consultation on a draft report before publishing a supplementary remuneration report and the requirement that the Commission publishes the remuneration reports on its website and in any other way the Commission considers appropriate.
Section 69J – Administrative requirements for relevant authorities in reports
150.Section 69J enables annual remuneration reports to require relevant authorities to put in place administrative systems to avoid the duplication of payments in respect of relevant matters and requests for payment in respect of the same relevant matters. These reports can also include the Commission’s requirements for keeping records of payments made under Part 5A.
Section 69K – Publicising requirements for relevant authorities in reports
151.Section 69K enables the Commission to set out in its annual remuneration report information which relevant authorities are required to publish.
Section 69L – Monitoring compliance with Commission’s requirements
152.Section 69L requires relevant authorities to comply with any requirement set out in an annual or supplementary remuneration report and enables the Commission to monitor the implementation and management of the payments made by relevant authorities. The Commission can require relevant authorities to provide it with information about matters including matters in connection with payments made in respect of relevant matters, relevant pensions, and resettlement payments. Relevant authorities must comply with any such requirement.
Section 69M – Directions to enforce compliance with Commission’s requirements
153.Section 69M enables the Welsh Ministers, if they are satisfied that an authority has failed to comply with a requirement in an annual or supplementary remuneration report, to give a direction requiring the authority to comply with that requirement. The section sets out the matters that must be specified in the direction.
Section 69N – Members wishing to forgo payments
154.Section 69N enables a person to waive their entitlement to payments, either in full or in part as that person determines. Since authorities are required to make certain payments to members, section 69N(2) enables authorities not to pay allowances in circumstances where a member has elected to forgo payment by notice in writing.
Section 69O – Withholding payments
155.Section 69O requires a relevant authority to withhold payments to a person who has been:
suspended from being a member (or partially suspended) by virtue of Part 3 of the Local Government Act 2000 or
prevented from acting as a member of a local authority in Wales under section 80A(6) of the Local Government Act 1972.
156.The section also enables the Welsh Ministers to issue directions to relevant authorities (following consultation with the Commission) to withhold payments in respect of the relevant matters specified in the direction or to not make a resettlement payment.
157.This section also enables relevant authorities to require a person to make repayments in certain circumstances and enables local authorities to recover payments in certain circumstances.
Section 69P – Guidance
158.Section 69P enables the Commission to issue guidance to relevant authorities about how to comply with requirements under Part 5A. It also enables the Welsh Ministers to issue guidance to the Commission about its functions under that Part. Relevant authorities or the Commission, as the case may be, are required to have regard to any guidance issued under this section.
Section 69Q – Directions under this Part
159.Section 69Q enables the Welsh Ministers to apply for a court order to enforce directions made under sections 69M and 69O and sets out that the power to issue directions under this Part does not limit the general power of the Welsh Ministers to direct the Commission under section 14 of the 2013 Act.
Section 69R – Power to modify provision
160.Section 69R enables the Welsh Ministers to modify Part 5A of the 2013 Act by regulations.
Section 58 – Transfer of property, rights and liabilities
161.This section provides that all property held by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales immediately before its abolition, and all rights and liabilities of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales that exist immediately before its abolition, transfer to the Commission.
Section 59 – Minor and consequential provision
162.This section introduces Part 4 of Schedule 1, which makes minor and consequential amendments that are consequential to sections 56 to 58 of the Act.
Section 60 – Savings
163.Section 60 saves the effect of the provisions repealed by section 56 for the purposes of the financial year beginning 1 April 2025 other than the references to the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales, which should be interpreted as references to the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru.
