Report of the independent panel on remuneration of members for 2023-24

Executive summary

We are currently a remuneration Panel of five members (see paragraph 1.4), convened by legislation approved in 2003. Although appointed by North Yorkshire County Council we are, as agreed in writing, an independent body. Our responsibility is to review the council’s members’ allowance scheme to ensure that payments are set at the appropriate level to undertake the role and, at the same time, to ensure the Scheme is sufficiently attractive to all who would wish to serve as a councillor of North Yorkshire.
 
The Panel as agreed (by council in 2009) is constituted as follows:

• the Panel would normally consist of a maximum of four members (unless exceptional circumstances cause a variance) and there is normally a four-year term of office. A member may be reappointed for a further term of four years, meaning that each member can only sit for a maximum of eight years on the Panel
• in 2011, council confirmed that the Panel chooses its own chairman and their duration by agreement
• there is a recruitment process even for Panel members who have sat the original four-year term
• regarding independence, although HMRC treats any allowance as taxable employment income, Panel members are not employees and are therefore independent of the council. Panel members do not have a line manager in the council and therefore are under no direction or influence from the council in any way. Ongoing administrative support for the IRP however is provided by the council as and when required. Any Panel allowance is taxable through our payroll, but the appointment is not pensionable. Panel members can claim reimbursement for reasonable travel and subsistence costs necessarily incurred on IRP business at rates set by us 

The term of office of an individual Panel member can be extended, where there is an exceptional need, by the Leader in consultation with the group leaders.
 
We make recommendations to the County Council on the levels of remuneration we consider are justified for North Yorkshire Council’s Members to retain the balance between public duty and a realistic recompense for the time given up, plus commitment and responsibility in undertaking the role.
 
From 1 April 2023, there will be a new unitary North Yorkshire Council. This means that all the services and responsibilities provided and duties undertaken previously by 8 local Authorities will be undertaken by the new Unitary Council. The development and implementation of the new council is a challenging undertaking for officers and members and many decisions about form and function will not be made until the February 2023 meeting of the County Council. As such, there are significant elements of the new council relating to the work of councillors that are not yet in place at the time of preparing this report. This then means that it is difficult for the members of the Independent Remuneration Panel to quantify and evaluate the workload of councillors in the first year of the new council and the precise demands that will be placed upon them.
 
The use of comparator data from similar unitary authorities, which have been established for some time, offers a valuable insight. Additional sources of information, including seeking the views of the councillors themselves, have been drawn upon.
 
Prior to the 5 May 2022 County Council elections, there were 72 councillors representing 68 divisions. At those elections 90 councillors were elected to 89 divisions. These councillors represent the County Council through to 31 March 2023 and then the new Unitary North Yorkshire Council from 1 April 2023 for the following 4 years, until the next elections in May 2027. Overall, the number of councillors in the county will have reduced from 319 to 90. When the new Unitary Authority is created, It is anticipated that this will lead to a significant increase in the workload for the new Unitary councillors.

For 2023/24, which witnesses the beginning of the new Unitary Authority, the Panel has received advice from both senior officials of the Council and experienced councillors and has reviewed data from comparable Unitary Authorities. Based on this information, the Panel is recommending a starting, flat rate basic allowance of £15,500. Regarding SRA’s, the Panel acknowledges the economic challenges being faced within the community and has been guided by and taken into consideration the average pay awards in the public sector of 4-5%. We are therefore recommending an ‘across the board increase for all SRA’s of 4%.’ However, the Panel is also acknowledging, that it has to give special consideration to certain existing SRA roles, where the level of responsibility has increased significantly and to those newly created roles which will only commence from 1 April 2023.
 
The reduction in the number of councillors will result in a significant saving in the allowances paid. However, the purpose of this report is to outline the Panel’s recommendations addressing all additional costs involved in the Unitarisation, and the Panel is pleased to report, that these recommendations will not have any additional cost to the County tax-payer and will be funded from the significant savings made as a result of the Unitarisation.
 
In relation to travel and subsistence allowances if there are any increases in the rates payable to staff then a similar increase should be made to the rates in the Members’ Allowance Scheme, to come into effect at the same time.
 
Mr John Thompson’s appointment to the Panel was originally due to terminate in November 2021. However, as referred to above, the Leader originally agreed, as an “exceptional need”, that this appointment continued until May 2022. This has subsequently been further extended to 1 April 2023, when the new North Yorkshire Council takes effect and when it may be further reviewed.

1.0 Independent remuneration panel for North Yorkshire Council

1.1 We represent the Independent Remuneration Panel which reports to the North Yorkshire County Council. It has been agreed and approved that, as from 1 April 2023, this Panel will continue in office and then report to the new North Yorkshire Council.

1.2 In 2018/19 the Panel also commenced reviews for the North Yorkshire police, fire and crime Panel.

1.3 The County Council seeks the advice of the Panel before it makes any changes or amendments to its members’ allowance scheme and therefore should consider its recommendations and its reasoning before setting a new or amended Members’ Allowance Scheme.

1.4 The current membership of the Independent Remuneration Panel is as follows: 

Mr John Thompson – Chairman 

Appointed in December 2013 - Reappointed in 2019. 

Past employment includes: 12 Years HM Forces, Royal Signals. Yorkshire Regional Manager for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Regional Director, Yorkshire and Humber for the Institute of Directors. Former Magistrate for 8 years and Life Member of the Magistrates Association. Director and senior manager of several diverse companies and PLCs and member of a range of business advisory groups, boards etc. Has held a wide range of voluntary and community positions. 

Mr Thompson’s second term of office was due to expire in November 2021. However, to avoid a major disruption to the functioning of a complete Panel at such a critical time, it had been proposed and agreed by the County Council Leader and Deputy, that as a matter of “Exceptional Needs” Mr Thompson’s appointment be extended until May 2022 and further extended until 1 April 2023. Mr Thompson has agreed to continue in office as proposed, to facilitate the preparation of this Report. 

Mr Keith Trotter – Panel member

Appointed in 2016 – Reappointed November 2020 - Retired Managing Director of a hardware company. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Member of the Institute of Consultants, and a Certified Management Consultant. Member of the Volunteering Programme for Start Up Companies financed by the Business Enterprise Fund.

Dr Stuart Green – Panel member

Appointed in 2019 – Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Current employment as a lecturer at a leading UK university. Holds and has held a variety of non-executive and governance roles.

Ann Harding 

Appointed in 2022 – currently Chief executive of the Settle Victoria Hall Ltd Charity, running all aspects of the 400 capacity music hall, 200 seater outdoor cafe and performance space, and shop. The founding director of Settle Hydro Ltd, the country’s first community benefit hydro power station and a trustee of The Principle Trust Children’s Charity.

Elizabeth Morrison

Appointed in 2022 – retired judge, former solicitor. Appointed by the Ministry of Justice as a part-time judge of the county court (2005-2020) and of a property tribunal (2011-2022).

1.5 The Terms of Reference of the Panel are currently as follows:

1. to consider issues relating to members’ remuneration and expenses
2. to consider representations
3. to make recommendations and provide advice to the Council
4. to carry out a full review of special responsibility allowances for implementation every 4 years (the last being 2019/20)
5. to respond to requests to consider issues relating to the remuneration and expenses of independent and community members on relevant bodies. (Excluding this Independent Remuneration Panel)
6. to consider the remuneration of councillors serving on other bodies/organisations when requested

1.6 Together with Mr Thompson’s extension, the Panel currently consists of five members, recruited by open advert for a four-year term of office. It is open for any member of the public to apply. Members may currently be re-appointed for a further term of up to four years. Appointments to the Panel are made by the leaders of the political groups, the chief executive, the monitoring officer, and the chair of, or another member of the Panel.

1.7 The Panel chooses its own chairman and their duration.

1.8 The Panel continues to act and perform all duties and recommendations as in previous years.

2.0 Contextual background

2.1 Although available throughout the year, the Panel assembled between September and November 2022 to consider the most recent information, as part of its review and to formulate its recommendations. The evidence considered included national and local contextual information on benchmarking data, attendance data, financial context and input from group leaders, councillors and senior council officers.

2.2 The most recent information on councillor attendance at formal public committee meetings of the council is for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. The average attendance was 81%, compared to 84% in the previous year. For the quarterly meetings of the County Council, the attendance was 94% in 2020/21 and 90% in 2021/22. We consider these attendance levels to be satisfactory. If a councillor’s attendance falls below 66% over a 12 month period, they should be requested to repay an appropriate sum of the allowances received during that period, subject to mitigating circumstances such as illness or parental leave.

2.3 The majority of the committee meetings held during the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 were held remotely using MS Teams. This was due to ongoing concerns regarding the pandemic and the duty of care that the council has to councillors, officers, and members of the public attending meetings. Of the 132 committee meetings scheduled over that period, 124 were held remotely.

2.4 The County Council is experiencing a number of financial and demand led pressures. In particular, demand for adult social care services is rising at a time when the independent care market is fragile and there is a national drive to expedite discharges from hospital. There are also increasing demands upon children’s social care services and increasing costs across all other council services and contracts as prices rise. The inflationary pressures include: increasing costs of all fuels and construction materials. There have also been wage increases and there are costs associated with the creation of a new Unitary Authority, albeit that these should be recouped as the new council drives out significant savings and efficiencies once established.

2.5 The figures below show the latest position regarding inflation.

	Inflation Rates for the preceding 12 months up to
Date	December 2020	December 2021	November 2022
Retail Price Index	1.2%	7.5%	14.0%
Consumer Price Index	0.6%	5.4%	9.3%

3.0 Challenges

3.1 The Panel continues to be aware of the impact and disruption that Covid 19 has had on the standard procedures and resources of the council.

3.2 The preparation of the Panel’s Report for 2023/24 has been particularly challenging. There has been a fundamental shift as to how council business will now be carried out.

4.0 New Unitary authority for North Yorkshire

4.1 On 21 July 2021, the UK government approved that the current 8 local authorities in North Yorkshire would be replaced by a new, single council. This council will be in place as of 1 April 2023.

4.2 The new council will have the responsibility to deliver all those services that were previously delivered by the district councils, borough councils and County Council. Elections were held on 5 May 2022 for 90 county councillors representing 89 electoral divisions, as opposed to the 72 councillors representing 68 electoral divisions that were in place prior to the May 2022 elections. The 90 councillors have been elected to the county council for 2022-23 and then will continue into the new Unitary Authority for the period 2023-2027. In total, their term of office will be 5 years.

4.3 The role of councillors in the new Unitary Council, from April 2023 to May 2027, will be very different as the new Unitary Authority takes on the responsibilities of all eight councils that previously provided services in the county. In particular, there is likely to be a strong emphasis upon locality working, community leadership and linking in with parish and town councils and other local representative bodies. The new Unitary Council will also have more statutory and regulatory responsibilities than the existing County Council, such as domestic and commercial planning, licensing, and environmental health as well as housing. The Panel has referred to data from other Unitary Authorities and received information from Council officers and based upon the available information we have determined basic and special responsibility allowances for 2023/24. 
 
4.4 By the time the IRP commences its report for 2024/25, much more information should be available regarding councillors’ workload and responsibilities within the new Unitary Council.

5.0 Council meetings

5.1 The local government act 1972 requires that committee members be physically present at a committee meeting to be counted as part of the quorum and to be able to participate fully and vote. The legislation that was previously in place during the pandemic, the local authorities and police and crime Panels (Coronavirus) (flexibility of local authority and police and crime Panel meetings) (England and Wales) regulations 2020, expired on 6 May 2021. As such, all formal, public meetings of the committees must now be held in person. For North Yorkshire councillors, the Panel recognises that this will mean a considerable increase in travelling time and mileage.

6.0 Recommendations for councillors' basic allowance

6.1 Each local authority must make provision in its scheme of allowances for a basic flat rate allowance payable to members (basic allowance).

This allowance must be the same for every councillor and is paid in instalments through the year. The basic allowance for 2022/23 for North Yorkshire County Council is £10,316. Comparator information with other unitary councils is shown in Appendix 1.

6.2 In formulating its recommendations, the Panel has been guided by the following:

• councillors volunteer for their roles. They are not remunerated at a commercial rate for their time, as if they were employees. However, the allowances should not be set at a level which acts as a disincentive to conscientious performance of duties, or which does not reflect the considerable time commitment required for the role
• it is important that the Council feels able to attract high quality candidates to stand as councillors, from a wide variety of backgrounds. There should also be no financial barrier to anyone who wishes to stand for election
• the level of allowances paid reflect that in comparable unitary authorities
• the general economic climate and budgetary constraints on the council. Remuneration is paid from the public purse
• consideration has been given to all representations made to the Panel by councillors and officers ‘in the course of’ its deliberations

6.3 In 2023/24 there is the unique factor of Unitarisation, and an entirely new council will be in a transitional period. The process of change inevitably imposes an additional burden for a period of time, but that period is finite, and all councillors were aware of the impending Unitarisation when they stood for office in 2022. The Panel has focused on an assessment of the level of workload going forward. Many county councillors have also been district councillors and received remuneration for both roles. The Panel has taken into account the basic allowances currently paid by the districts, which vary considerably. All councillors within the new council will receive the same basic allowance.

6.4 Historically in North Yorkshire County Council, the Panel has recommended the basic allowance by using a value of 5.825 ‘units’. Whilst this system has served the Panel and the council well in the past for 2023/24, the Panel has utilised a simpler methodology, based upon reviewing the basic allowance of other comparable unitary authorities and determining where it would be appropriate to place the remuneration level for councillors for North Yorkshire. This will provide a de-linking of the historic units in setting the basic allowance for councillors of the Unitary Council and this can be kept under review to see if it provides a fair remuneration for the role as it begins to operate. 

6.5 It is important to note that the basic allowance is for the role and not how it is delivered. This is because every individual councillor chooses how they carry out their role in their electoral division.

6.6 We are aware that the 90 “new” councillors were only elected 6 months ago and were fully aware that the current basic allowance was £10,316, and generally, it appears this value is still acceptable. The Panel is justified in taking the current rate of inflation into consideration (in excess of 10%) and the advice that, across the board, the workload of councillors will increase by around 25% in the new Unitary Council. While this level of remuneration was considered appropriate for the county council, taking everything into account, the Panel has concluded that the basic allowance for 2023/24 should be £15,500. In particular, the Panel has had regard to the comparator information as to rates paid in other unitaries (Appendix 1) and to the statements from senior officers and councillors regarding the anticipated increase in the scope and extent of workload (90 councillors instead of 319).

6.7 The total cost of basic allowances being paid in 2022/23 to 319 county and district councillors is £2,031,196.60. It is understood that ‘the majority of’ the district councils, have applied an additional 4.99% uplift the basic allowances for their councilors in this financial year. The Panel’s recommendation for the newly appointed 90 (only) county councillors for 2023/24 is £1,395,000.00 (90 x £15,500.00). This represents a saving for this specific allowance of £636,196.60.

7.0 Recommendations on special responsibility allowances (SRAs)

7.1 In addition to the basic allowance, each local authority may make provision for the payment of a special responsibility allowance (SRA) for those councillors who have significant responsibilities over and above the normal work of a councillor. The current allowances paid by North Yorkshire County Council are shown in Appendix 2. It is important to note that the Panel’s role is to review the special responsibility allowance that is associated with each specific role only. The Panel ‘has no involvement’ in the appointment of individual Councillors to these extended roles.

7.2 It is important to note that the Special Responsibility Allowance is for performance of the responsibility, not how it is delivered. This is because every councillor will work in their own way.

7.3 For 2023/24, the Panel has decided to detach all the allowances from the unit methodology. This will be reviewed next year.

7.4 The average pay award in the public sector this year is 4-5% and, based on this, the Panel recommends an increase of 4% for all holders of an SRA and independent allowance holders.

7.5 The Panel has also looked at specific SRA roles, including new SRA roles, and considered whether the increase in workload and responsibility, as a result of Unitarisation, merits a further increase. The Panel’s recommendations are set out in Appendix 3.

7.6 It is also possible that, before next year’s review, the Panel may wish to recalibrate its basic unit value to provide it with much more flexibility when it comes to reviewing what might be only marginal changes.

7.7 Thereafter, it will remain within the Panel’s protocol to carry out an in-depth review of all SRA’s every four years, the next in 2027/28.

7.8 The Panel can be called upon to carry out an ad-hoc review of any SRA when it is believes that a significant change has occurred and as soon as it is able.

8.0 Financial implications

8.1 In 2022/23, the total budget for basic allowances and special responsibility allowances for the existing 319 councillors is £2,553,319.

8.2 The total cost of the proposed basic allowances and the special responsibility allowances in 2023/24 for 90 councillors is £1,845,686 (£1,395,000.00 Basic Allowance and £450,686 special responsibility allowance).

8.3 If the independent remuneration Panel’s recommendations for 2023/24 are accepted, there will be a net budget saving of £707,633. As such, these recommendations will not have any cost to the council taxpayer.

9.0 Recommendations on other allowances

9.1 The Panel considered the current arrangements for travel and subsistence allowances. The arrangements are linked to rates for council staff. We note that in the North Yorkshire County Council members allowance scheme, mileage rates only recently changed to 45p a mile (from 42p a mile). However, to fairly maintain this link, the Panel takes the view, that North Yorkshire Council mileage rate should always be in line with the mileage rate paid by central government.

10.0 Future work programme

10.1 It will be the Panel’s intention to undertake further detailed reviews of basic allowance and SRA’s for its 2024/25 annual report.

10.2 The proposal for the Panel to review a broad package of entitlements for councillors, including a possible parental leave policy, has now, at the request of the executive, been deferred until the new Unitary Authority of North Yorkshire has been completely installed and is fully active in all respects.

John A Thompson

Chairman
Independent Remuneration Panel
North Yorkshire County Council
19 December 2022

Basic allowances – comparator information for 2022/23 - appendix 1

Authority	£	Rank	Population	Councillors	Population per Cllr	Rural/Urban
Leeds	16,564	1	821,000	99	8,293	Urban
Cornwall	15,130	2	570,300	87	6,555	Rural
Northumberland	15,033	3	320,600	67	4,785	Rural
Sheffield	15,000	4	556,500	84	6,625	Urban
Wiltshire	14,075	5	510,400	98	5,208	Rural
Dorset	13,591	6	379,600	82	4,629	Rural
Bradford	13,463	7	546,400	90	6,071	Urban
Durham	13,300	8	522,100	126	4,143	Rural
Buckinghamshire	13,260	9	534,720	147	3,638	Rural
North Northamptonshire	12,500	10	359,500	78	4,609	Rural
Cheshire West and Chester	12,495	11	343,823	70	4,912	Rural
Cheshire East	12,351	12	398,800	82	4,863	Rural
East Riding	12,264	13	342,200	67	5,107	Rural
Shropshire	12,000	14	323,600	74	4,373	Rural
Central Bedfordshire	10,996	15	294,200	59	4,986	Rural
Bedford	10,425	16	185,300	40	4,633	Urban
North Yorkshire	10,316	17	614,505	90	6,828	Rural
Average	13,104	-	448,444	85	5,309
North Yorkshire County Council % of average	78.7	-	-	-

Appendix 2

Special responsibility allowances, other allowances and allowances for the police, fire and crime Panel 2022/23

	Number of Units	Current Allowance	Number of allowances	Total Cost of allowance	Notes
		£		£
	A	B	C	D	E
Value of a unit		1,771
Special responsibility allowances
Chairman of the county council	6	10,626	1	10,626
Vice chairman of the county council	2	3,542	1	3,542
Leader of the county council	19	33,649	1	33,649
Deputy leader	10	17,710	1	17,710
Other executive members	9	15,939	8	127,512
Chairman of health overview and scrutiny committee	6	10,626	1	10,626
Chairman of other overview and scrutiny committees	3	5,313	4	21,252
Vice-chairman of overview and scrutiny committees	1	1,771	5	8,855
Chairman of area constituency committee	1.5	2,657	6	15,942
Chairman of planning and regulatory functions committee	2.5	4,428	1	4,428
Chairman of planning and regulatory functions sub committee	1	1,771	1	1,771
Chairman of appeals committee	3	5,313	1	5,313
Vice chairman of appeals committee	0.5	886	1	886
Chairman of pension fund committee	3	5,313	1	5,313
Chairman of audit committee	2	3,542	1	3,542
Chairman of standards committee	1	1,771	1	1,771
Champion for young people	1	1,771	1	1,771
Champion for older people	1	1,771	1	1,771
Leaders of political groups
Second largest group membership	3	5,313	1	5,313
Third largest group membership	1.5	2,657	1	2,657
When there is only one second largest group, and no other eligible groups, the Leader of the second largest group receives an SRA of 3 units. In all other cases the total SRA allocation is then shared between the eligible group leaders on the basis that the leader/s of the second largest group(s) receive an SRA twice the amount as the Leader/s of the other eligible groups. The basis of the calculation is to ensure there is not an increase to the cost of the total SRA allocation.
Secretaries of Political Groups
Largest group membership	1.5	2,657	1	2,657
Second largest group membership	1	1,771	1	1,771
Third largest group membership	0.5	886	1	886
When there is only one second largest group, and no other eligible groups, the secretary of the second largest group receives an SRA of 1 unit. In all other cases the total SRA allocation is then shared between the eligible group secretaries on the basis that the secretary/ies of the second largest group(s) receive an SRA twice the amount as the secretary/ies of the other eligible groups. The basis of the calculation is to ensure there is not an increase to the cost of the total SRA allocation.
Police, fire and crime panel (PFCP)
Chair of the police, fire and crime panel	5	8,855	1	8,855
Vice chair of the police, fire and crime panel	2	3,542	2	7,084
Members of the police, fire and crime panel	1	1,771	7	12,397
Community Members of the police, fire and crime panel	1	1,771	2	3,542
Other allowances
Independent Persons	0.5	886	2	1,772
Chairman of the Pension Board		3,000	1	3,000
Total Special Responsibility Allowances			42	289,564
Independent Persons			2	1,772
Total North Yorkshire County Council funded			44	291,336
Total police and crime panel allowances			5	31,878	Funded by Home Office
Pension board			1	3,000	Funded by Pension Fund
Total			50	326,214

Appendix 3

	Current North Yorkshire County Council allowance (2022-23)	Number of allowances	Total cost of allowance (2022-23)	Recommended North Yorkshire Council SRA (2023-24)	Number of allowances	Updated total cost if implemented (2023-24)
								£		£	£		£
Chair of the council	10,626	1	10,626	12,142	1	12,142
Vice chair of the council	3,542	1	3,542	4,027	1	4,027
Leader of the council	33,649	1	33,649	39,654	1	39,654
Deputy leader	17,710	1	17,710	21,165	1	21,165
Other executive members	15,939	8	127,512	19,554	8	156,432
Chair of health overview and scrutiny committee	10,626	1	10,626	11,052	1	11,052
Chair of transition overview and scrutiny committee	5,313	1	5,313	5,526	1	5,526
Chair of other overview and scrutiny committees	5,313	4	21,252	5,526	4	22,104
Vice-chair of overview and scrutiny committees	1,771	5	8,855	1,842	6	11,052
Chair of area constituency committee	2,657	6	15,942	5,526	6	33,156
Chair of strategic planning committee	0	0	0	6,971	1	6,971
Vice-chair of strategic planning committee	0	0	0	2,141	1	2,141
Chair of planning and regulatory functions committee	4,428	1	4,428	0	0	0
Chair of planning and regulatory functions sub-committee	1,771	1	1,771	0	0	0
Chair of appeals committee	5,313	1	5,313	5,526	1	5,526
Vice chair of appeals committee	886	1	886	921	1	921
Chair of pension fund committee	5,313	1	5,313	5,526	1	5,526
Chair of audit committee	3,542	1	3,542	4,769	1	4,769
Chair of standards committee	1,771	1	1,771	0	0	0
Chair of standards and governance committee	0	0	0	4,421	1	4,421
Chair of area constituency planning committee	0	0	0	3,815	6	22,890
Vice-chair of area constituency planning committee	0	0	0	1,456	6	8,736
Chair of statutory licensing committee	0	0	0	3,500	1	3,500
Vice-chair of statutory licensing committee	0	0	0	1,842	1	1,842
Chair of statutory licensing sub committee	0	0	0	250 per meeting	3	As required
Chair of general licensing and registration committee	0	0	0	3,931	1	3,931
Vice-chair of general licensing and registration committee	0	0	0	1,842	1	1,842
Chair of general licensing and registration sub-committee	0	0	0	250 per meeting	3	As required
Champion for young people	1,771	1	1,771	1,842	1	1,842
Champion for older people	1,771	1	1,771	1,842	1	1,842
Champion for climate change	0	0	0	1,842	1	1,842
Leaders of political groups. When there is only one second largest group, and no other eligible groups, the leader of the second largest group receives an SRA of £5,313 (proposed new rate for 2023/24 £6,821). In all other cases the total SRA allocation is then shared between the eligible group leaders on the basis that the leader/s of the second largest group(s) receive an SRA twice the amount as the leader/s of the other eligible groups. The basis of the calculation is to ensure there is not an increase to the cost of the total SRA allocation.
Second largest group membership	5,313	1	5,313	6,821	1	6 ,821
Third largest group membership	2,657	1	2,657	3,527	1	3 ,527
When there is only one second largest group, and no other eligible groups, the secretary of the second largest group receives an SRA of £1,771 (proposed new rate for 2023/24 £1,842). In all other cases the total SRA allocation is then shared between the eligible group secretaries on the basis that the secretary/ies of the second largest group(s) receive an SRA twice the amount as the Secretary/ies of the other eligible groups. The basis of the calculation is to ensure there is not an increase to the cost of the total SRA allocation.
Largest group membership	2,657	1	2,657	2,763	1	2 ,763
Second largest group membership	1,771	1	1,771	1,842	1	1 ,842
Third largest group membership	886	1	886	921	1	921
Chair of the police, fire and crime panel	8,855	1	8,855	9,210	1	9 ,210
Vice chair of the police, fire and crime panel	3,542	2	7,084	3,684	2	7 ,368
Members of the police, fire and crime panel	1,771	7	12,397	1,842	7	12,894
Community members of the police, fire and crime panel	1,771	3	5,313	1,842	3	5 ,526
Independent persons chair of the pension board	886 3,000	2 1	1,772 3,000	921 3,120	2 1	1,842 3,120
Total special responsibility allowances		43	294,877		67	410,726
Independent persons		2	1,772		2	1,842
Total North Yorkshire County Council/North Yorkshire Council funded		45	296,649		69	412,568
Police Fire and Crime Panel		13	33,649		13	34,998
Pension Board		1	3,000		1	3,120
Total		59	333,298		83	450,686