Issue - meetings

(a)       That the decisions which the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales has made on Member salaries for 2018/19 be noted;

(b)       That the Chair of the Council should be paid at Level 2 (£21,800 which is inclusive of the basic salary); and

(c)        That the Vice-Chair of the Council should be paid at Level 2 (£16,300 which is inclusive of the basic salary).

The Democratic Services Manager introduced the report to enable Council to receive the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) Annual Report for 2018/19.  This determines payments to elected and co-opted members for the next year.  He reported that the IRPW draft proposals for 2018/19 had been considered by Council on 24 October.  The final report was published on 27 February 2018 and sets the levels of payment for Members for 2018/19.  The Democratic Services Manager advised that from 1 April 2018, all elected Members would receive the basic salary of £13,600 which was an increase of 1.49% on the 2017/18 basic salary.

The Democratic Services Manager reported that most payment levels were determined by the IRPW but Flintshire, as with other Welsh local authorities, must decide which payment level it wished to apply for the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Council.  He referred to the three possible levels of salary set in the IRPW and explained that since the discretion was introduced Flintshire had always paid Level 2 to both the Chair and Vice-Chair.  The Democratic Services Manager advised that responsibility Level 2 would be paid at  £21,800 for the Chair and £16,300 for the Vice-Chair (inclusive of the basic salary). 

Councillor Attridge proposed status quo which was that the Chair of the Council continued to be paid at Level 2 and the Vice-Chair continued to be paid at Level 2.  When put to the vote this was carried.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the decisions which the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales has made on Member salaries for 2018/19 be noted;

(b)       That the Chair of the Council should be paid at Level 2 (£21,800 which is inclusive of the basic salary); and

(c)        That the Vice-Chair of the Council should be paid at Level 2 (£16,300 which is inclusive of the basic salary).