A MEETING of councillors tonight will see them consider changes to some of the expenses they can receive.
Wokingham Borough Council will be looking at recommendations made by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP), including allowing claims of up to £20 per hour, up to 35 hours a month, to pay for specialist care while they attend meetings. The carer contracted should not be a family member.
They also recommend that the IT allowance of £500 should only be claimed by members who allow constituents and officers to contact them by email, and to enable them to take part in virtual meetings.
There are no planned rises in allowances.
Cllr John Halsall, leader of the council, welcomed their report.
“The first thing I said to the IRP is that there’s no chance of the council voting in rises, so they’d focused on childcare and carers allowances,” he said.
“There are two arguments about being a councillor.
“One is that it should be a vocation and not for money.
“The other is that you’re not going to attract the diversity of people if the money is not right.
“We will be considering the report carefully before voting.”