FOI request (FOIR-334803182)

Councillors Allowances

Requested Fri 14 May 2021
Responded Thu 17 June 2021

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, please provide responses to the following questions relating to:

div>the collection of party political subscriptions from councillors allowances in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.

1. Does the council collect, from councillors allowances, funds which are then passed to a political party?

2. Please give the reason why the council is collecting, from councillors allowances, funds for a political party.

3. Please advise the annual amount collected and paid to each individually named political party.

4. Has NI and Tax been deducted before the funds are collected?

5. What is the cost to the council for making these deductions and arranging bank transfers or cheque payments?

6. What bank charges are incurred in transferring the funds or cheque payments?

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Response

1. Yes, Labour Group Subscriptions.

2. Requested by Labour Party.

3. £6,164.11

4. Yes

5 and 6. It is not possible to break down the actual cost for 5 and 6 as they are part of the overall process and are paid by BACS on a larger payment run.