who is authorized to disqualify councilors for the 1972 act

Question

I have been asking the clerk to explain who authorizes authority and where the exemption comes from in the 1972 act for councilor's disqualifications if no meetings are held ( by dispensation) for the 6 month period, I have also asked the district council  ( wakefield ), the district council say they don,t interfere with parish councils  and don,t exercise to ask for Information, well who does have the right to disqualify and to check for confirmation of legalities in these type of circumstances, it,s been said that the clerk has not got the authority to disqualify so who actually does disqualify, also is there a standards board for clerks.

Answer 1

The disqualification for non attendance at meetings for a period of six months is contained within the Local Government Act 1972.  It is an automatic process which neither the clerk nor anyone else has the power to either invoke or reject.  A simple report to the elections office of your principal authority identifies the vacancy and starts the formal statutory process to fill that vacancy.

Comments

So if a dispensation is given at a council meeting (due to covid all council meetings canceled until further notice 0 does the process still work automatically or does a dispensation cancel the automatic disqualification.

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If a leave of absence is granted it has to be done by full council (at a properly constituted meeting) and must approve the absence and reason for it.  The six month clock is then reset.  So (a) there needs to have been a meeting to approve the absence and (b) there needs to be another meeting to extend any approval of an absence although I believe it may not be possible to continue to extend absences.  I've not had experience of multiple continuations of an absence so can't quote if or when this can take place.
Covid didn't automatically cancel all meetings and temporary legislation (now expired) did permit meetings to take place remotely during periods of lockdown up until May 2021.  Thereafter we had no choice but to meet physically and some councils did so only infrequently and occasionally outdoors for safety!

Answer 2

The exemption comes from a resolution of all of the Councillors, usually where a period of extended illness prevents attendance but it must come before the 6 month deadline is reached.

Comments

A little bit of investigation led me there. You mentioned that Wakefield DC was the principal authority, and I took it from there. IMHO your clerk has been seriously negligent and should have set up Zoom meetings in 2020. She was present at the March meeting when the minutes stated - and she knew the council cancelled meetings until further notice. Part of her role is to advise and guide councillors an by not doing that she created a situation where the council was non functional. All of the ex councillors should have complained to the external auditor and pressed them to produce a public interest report. If you had all agreed that an exemption to the 6 month rule should apply and it was minuted this would not have happened. She did not provide that guidance and it makes you wonder if a similar failure to anticipate issues that could render the council dysfunctional could arise on her watch.

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It is unbelievable that a previous council had an internal investigation about her,deemed her to be incompetent and then voted to allow her to continue, 3 of those councilors i spoke to said in different ways that they felt sorry for her,I just can,t believe what has happened,our community is being cheated and lied to , they say one thing away from council then when the push comes to the shove they back down,she has been reported by parishioners about being involved in moving box,s of council papers with other,s at a time when normally the village hall is shut, that was just 2 days after her family and friends were voted of the council, still they said can,t we forget it. Unbelievable,when her brother-in-law was asked were did the excemption come from in 2020 against the 1972 act his answere was wakefield,still they stand still.

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If the Wakefield MC monitoring officer ruled that one or more of your councillors were exempt from suspension from office and will not explain why, you could raise a complaint about him/her with the local govt ombudsman on the basis of maladministration.

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thank you for that Information everyone, can you tell me what powers has the Monitoring officer actual got,ie could he have the power to disqualify or prosecute etc.

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In reality no to the above. They can issue a censure notice which is a glorified public telling off, but cannot fine or remove a councillor from office for breaches of code of conduct. Unless the councillors electorate get to hear about it little impact might arise.

Answer 3

Councillors aren't disqualified for non-attendance, they just cease to be a councillor in line with s85 of LGA 1972. It isn't in the clerk's power to enact or override this, it simply is. The clerk is expected to notify the principal authority and the other councillors that a vacancy has occurred.
Full council has the power to grant an extension to the six month period of absence before the end of the six months. A good clerk will warn councillors that the six months are approaching so that they have a chance to pass such a resolution if they wish.

Comments

I also believe Councils should be much more critical of reasons given for non attendance.  I have yet to see one "apologies received" challenged . On a recent training course it was explained that a Councillors summons had the same legal standing as a court summons and they were so easily ignored ! Dont know how true that is

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I would also like to know how true this is. I don't know if all County Councils do this but ours publishes (if you can find it) a lost of how many meetings a County Councillor has attended. The list also shows how many they should have attended. There's some remarkable figures on it! I Would like to see Town/Community Councils do the same.

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My Borough Council publish attendance figures but to be honest many Councillors attend many meetings but contribute nothing
There’s some Councillors at Parish level that almost never speak at meetings
I’ve said to many such Parish Councillors when the next election comes what are you putting on your election flyer and all I’ve got it a blank look