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Noted that all Councils are required
to make an annual scheme for the payment of allowances to
Councillors and the scheme must include a basic allowance payable
equally to all Councillors, and may include provision for Special
Responsibility Allowances (SRAs).
 
Noted that the basic allowance was
increased in 2023 in line with the headline figure of the annual
local government pay settlement but there was no increase in the
rate of SRAs.
 
Noted that at the meeting of Full
Council on 16 March 2022, it was agreed to re-adopt the London
Councils’ Independent Remuneration Panel for the purposes of
advising the Royal Borough of Greenwich in formulating its
Members’ Allowances Scheme for the next four municipal years
(2022/23–2025/26) as each authority must have regard to the
recommendations of such an independent panel.
Noted that the Independent
Remuneration Panel recommends that all allowances should be
increased annually in accordance with the headline figure of the
annual local government pay settlement.
 
Noted that the Independent
Remuneration Panel report published in December 2023, recommends
that the rate of Basic Allowance be set at £15,960. To
increase the level of basic allowance to that recommended by the
Independent Panel would require anincrease of 47.3%.
 

Agreed to
increase the rate of the Basic Allowance by 3.88% in line with the
fixed percentage increase applied to all allowances in the Local
Government Pay Settlement
 
Agreed to freeze the rate of Special
Responsibility Allowances
 
Agreed to increase the rate of the
Childcare and Dependents Carers’ Allowance to £13.15 to
match the rate of the London Living Wage.
Agreed to increase the number of
Cabinet Assistants receiving a Special Responsibility Allowance
from two to four.
 
Agreed the Special
Responsibility Allowances for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor under
Schedule 2 paragraph 2 (4) and Schedule 2 paragraph 5
(4)  of the Local Government Act 1972
instead of including them in the Members’ Allowances
Scheme.
Agreed that Part 6 of the
Council’s Constitution be updated accordingly.
 
Noted
that the Scheme will be kept under review and
updated as necessary