Claiming Allowances
2.1 The first point of contact for any issue concerning allowances should be the Members’ Services Team in the Members’ Office at the Civic Centre. All queries should be directed to them. If they are not able to adequately address an issue, then they will pursue the query with the relevant Officers on behalf of the Elected Member.
2.2 All Basic and Special responsibility allowances are paid directly into Elected Member’s bank accounts. There is no need for any claim forms to be completed.
2.3 Other allowances, such as Dependant Carer’s allowance or travel allowance, should be claimed using the appropriate claim form. These are available from the Members’ Services Team. Details of the allowances and expenses that Elected Members are entitled to are outlined in the following paragraphs. In addition, Elected Members should be aware of the following general principles:
- Claims for expenses should be made on a regular basis that the duration of any claim for travel or subsistence allowances should be no more than one month - subject to the final claim in any financial year being submitted within two weeks of the year end.
- Elected Members are responsible for the accuracy of their expenses claims. Elected Members should allow adequate time for the processing of claims.
- Claim forms must not be completed on behalf of Elected Members by other Elected Members or by Officers.
- An Elected Member may give written notice to the Director of Finance, IT and Digital and to forgo all of his/her entitlement o