Question

Can a parish councillor who is acting clerk for the same council claim expenses?

Answer 1

I don't see why not.

Arnold Baker (the bible) 9.29 says that generally allowances are not paid to clerks, (other that unpaid clerks who are councillors)...

In any case, both Clerks and Councillors are legally able claim out of pocket expenses for things like travel, postage, phone etc.

I would suggest that your finance committee puts it on the agenda and makes a resolution to do so, with some sort of budget, so that its all above board and minuted - our auditor likes to see these things recorded!
(Note the difference between an allowance (taxable) and expenses (not taxable))

HTH

Comments

Thank you for your reply.
This is about a small parish council  that has been running for a number of years with an acting clerk to save the expense of employing  a clerk.  This has enabled  the parish council  to use that money for projects that benefit the whole community  that otherwise  they would be unable to afford.  Over these  years the acting clerk has put in a lot of hard work and given up a lot of his free time to achieve this.  At the time the parish council  decided  to take this route advice  was sought from the district  council and it was approved by them that a small parish council  could be run with an acting clerk as stated in th local government  act of 1972 section 112 (5).  The acting clerk is not an employee  but does however claim expenses to cover administration costs, he also has to run all of this from his home as the parish council does not have any building that the can house an office.  The expenses  are mentioned on every copy of the parish council  meeting minutes.

Recently  a member of the public has attacked  the parish  council  saying that the governance of the acting clerk  is not in compliance  with the 1972  local government act and can only  perform  properly with a separate professional  clerk, he stated that an acting clerk could only be appointed in a case of emergency  and then only for eight  weeks.  Our acting clerk then resigned  but agree to stay in place until a replacement  was found.  Our district councillor  who was present at the meeting replied to this saying that this small parish council  was actually the best run in the constituency  and couldn't  see what the problem was.

Since this meeting our acting  clerk and parish council  chairman  have been accused  of running the parish council illegally by having an acting clerk.
Is this small parish council illegal?

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Interesting situation.

Perhaps the person complaining should be asked exactly what legal precedence they are referring too. Afaics there is nothing in the LGA that says anything other that a councillor can act as an unpaid clerk.

"Without prejudice to the provisions of subsection (1) above, a parish or community council may appoint one or more persons from among their number to be officers of the council, without remuneration."

The Governance Toolkit says that this is not recommended however.
"In an emergency (e.g. to cover a temporary vacancy) a Councillor may fulfil the role of Clerk to the parish council (this must be unpaid...). However, it is not good practice for Councillors to do this as it confuses Officer/Member roles."
No reference is given for this advice though, so I take it as 'good practise' rather than a legal requirement. You would need to consult a solicitor versed in Council law to be 100% sure.

I have never heard of an 8 week limit before, and given the problems of recruiting clerks, would not be a very practical one.

I think I would be tempted to write to the complaining person and explain why their precept will be going up substantially next year:-)

Is your council a member of your county ALC? Maybe worth consulting with them.

Answer 2

Seems to me Caroline Nelson is spot on. In an ideal world every parish council would have a paid clerk who is knowledgeable, efficient and supportive of the council. But it's not an ideal world, and quite a few small parish councils get along nicely with a councillor acting as clerk. If the person involved manages to combine both roles successfully, they should be applauded!

The only thing I'd add is that it is safest if it is totally clear that expense payments relate exclusively to actual costs incurred. That ensures that there is no possible element of profit that could breach the rule that the councillor acting as clerk must be unpaid.