Payment for East Sussex County Council pension committee chairman backed

Proposals to pay a special allowance to the chairman of the East Sussex pension committee have been given the backing of senior county councillors.

At a virtual meeting on Tuesday (June 23), East Sussex County Council’s governance committee agreed to support proposals to begin paying a £6,531 annual special responsibility allowance to the chairman of the council’s pension committee, as recommended by an Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP). 

The committee, which is made up of the leaders of the council’s three main political parties and Conservative cabinet members, unanimously backed the proposals, recommending that the allowance be agreed at a full council vote.

Cabinet member for economy Rupert Simmons said:

“I think it should be recognised that in recent years the business of the pension committee has become extraordinary within the public arena and the resulting preparation work required has been significant.

“I think the recommendation is extremely sound on all fronts.”

Liberal Democrat group leader David Tutt and Labour group co-leader Godfrey Daniel also spoke in support of the proposals.

The recommendation to begin paying the committee chairman an annual allowance was put forward by the IRP, after it was asked to look at the matter by county councillors.

In a report considered by the governance committee, a spokesman for the panel said:

“The panel was satisfied that the duties and responsibilities of the post were sufficiently onerous and responsible as to warrant the application of the special responsibility allowance.

“ Regard was also made to the many meetings and briefings required of the postholder.

"The panel recommends that: an SRA of £6,531 per annum be payable to the Chair of the Pension Committee … and payment of the allowance should be backdated to April 1 2020.”

The panel reached its recommendation after looking at similar councils and other committee chairmen at the council.

Since 2017, the East Sussex has pooled its pension funds with 10 other local authorities: Cambridgeshire, Kent, Hampshire, West Sussex, Norfolk, Essex, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and the Isle of Wight.

This pooled fund is known as ACCESS (A Collaboration of Central, Eastern and Southern Shires).

Of those councils, East Sussex County Council is the only one which does not pay its pension committee chairman some form of special allowance for their work, although two of the councils (West Sussex and Buckinghamshire) have cabinet members performing this role who do not receive an additional special allowance. 

The £6,531 figure is the same amount given to the chairmen of several other East Sussex County Council committees; including the planning and audit and standards committees.

The work of the pension committee has been under greater public scrutiny in recent years as a result of a Divest East Sussex; a high profile campaign calling for the pension fund to stop investment in the fossil fuel industry.

(by Huw Oxburgh, Local Democracy Reporter)