Law Society: Recognising work of council members
Members of the Law Society’s ruling council are to be paid £2,050 a year on top of expenses, if a motion is approved at next month’s AGM.
It will be the first time members of the 97-strong council will be paid.
According to the newly published notice for the AGM. if all members claim the allowance, it will cost around £200,000 a year.
But the “immediate financial impact” will be a cost of £483,000 because payments will be backdated to March last year, when the previous allowance scheme ended.
Under that system, discontinued because of an HM Revenue & Customs change in tax treatment, council members had an annual expenses allowance of £1,640 per annum to support their work, in addition to their direct expenses.
A spokeswoman for the society said the total annual cost of the previous scheme came to around £400,000 per annum, although it was not directly comparable to the new proposals because the arrangements included payments to a larger group of members beyond the council.
The notice revealed that the council agreed at its meeting in July to accept the recommendations of a working group made up of six council members and an independent member. It was chaired by vice-president Richard Atkinson.
The group recommended that council members receive “a payment (described as an allowance) in addition to reimbursement of their direct expenses”.
The motion explained that the position of council members was “different” from that of those appointed to other Law Society committees and working groups – council members can be removed if they fail to attend three consecutive meetings without obtaining leave of absence. There is no sanction for committee members who fail to attend meetings.
It continued: “Council is also the sovereign body of the society with its members having the responsibility to discharge the society’s duties in accordance with the society’s Royal Charter and bye-laws… It is essential that the council must remain relevant and representative of the profession.
“However, the obligations and expectations of a council member mean that some in the profession may feel unable to stand for election without some form of financial compensation for the commitment that is required. This may particularly affect employed and junior members of the profession.”
The allowance would “reflect a recognition of the role and responsibilities of council members” and would not be “a reimbursement of their salary/income”.
The allowance would be paid to council members individually rather than to their firm or employer through the society’s payroll and subject to National Insurance and tax deductions at source.
It would not mean that council members became employees or officers or workers of the Law Society.
The amount of the allowance will be reviewed every two years.
The size of the council has long been an issue of contention since it was stripped of its regulatory function, beyond a rubber-stamping role, under the Legal Services Act 2007. One governance review in the early 2000s – chaired by Baroness Usha Prashar – recommended reducing the council to 30 members but it was quickly shelved.
The council is made up of 49 members representing 42 geographical constituencies, and 48 members representing work practice and ‘characteristic’ constituencies (such as women and junior lawyers).
The AGM is on 9 October (register here) and will also consider the Law Society’s annual report. The link in the notice of the meeting, however, is for the previous year’s report, with the spokeswoman saying it will not be ready until next week at the earliest – even though it is for the year to 31 October 2023.
The notice also records that two of the regional seats on the council – for Lincolnshire and for Warwickshire and Worcestershire – received no nominations. The local law societies have been asked to nominate a member instead.
Hi
This report is factually incorrect at the second paragraph. It is misleading to say it will be the first time Council members have been paid. What you mean, possibly, is paid directly, but use of the word paid indicates some sort of salary or remuneration for time spent, and it isn’t that. It is an allowance for expenses that are not otherwise claimed as expenses, for instance a contribution to runnjng a home office, laptop, broadband, mobiles etc.
People do not understand the role of council members and the time commitment; that’s our fault for not explaining it properly. However, the time given up freely by members (either unpaid or as holiday leave) would equate to tens of thousands of pounds an hour lost revenue. These payments are NOT salary and not in respect of time.
More importantly, the reason why council voted to bring the allowances back was to ensure future generations of council are not put off from participating because of cost of entry. The law society is no longer the prevail of rich white men, and is made up of a wonderfully diverse and representative base. For some, however, paying out of one’s pocket to fulfil an elected role representing solicitors is not feasible or reasonable.