Millom Town Council
Millom Town Council was formed in 1974 when the parish boundaries changed from Cumberland.
Adopted: November 2025
Review Date: November 2027
The Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1021) – (Appendix II) regulate the allowances and expenses that may be paid to members of the council. The 2004 amendments to these regulations mean that all members of town and parish councils are eligible for travelling and subsistence allowance and not just elected members.
Part 5 of the Regulations relates to Town and Parish Councils.
To comply with the regulations, any Town/Parish Council wishing to pay allowances or travel and subsistence to its councillors must have in place an agreed and publicised Scheme of Allowances. This document is effectively Millom Town Council’s Scheme. Throughout this document the terms “Parish” and “Parish Council” are used to refer to all local councils including Town Councils.
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that:
The allowances that a Parish Council may pay are the Parish Basic Allowance (with or without an enhanced Chair’s allowance) and Parish Travel and Subsistence.
Regulation 25 permits the payment of a basic parish allowance. Millom Town Council does not pay:
It does, however, pay an enhanced Chair’s allowance.
A parish council may pay an allowance to its Chair or Town Mayor under Section 15(5) of the Local Government Act 1972, “to cover the expenses of the office”.
The Chair/Mayor’s Allowance paid under Section 15(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 will be taxable if it is paid as a round sum allowance, but not if it reimburses actual deductible expenditure.
The Chair/Mayor’s Allowance will not be paid in conjunction with any other allowance for the same expenditure.
As stated above, the allowance is not a delegated sum, otherwise it may incur a tax liability. All Chair/Mayoral spending will be limited to the agreed budget over the course of the financial year. This budget will be reported in the usual way and included in the quarterly projected outturn that goes to Council. Professional accounting good practice will apply in the closedown of accounts, and should there be any surplus at the end of the year this will not automatically be carried forward.
The current delegated budget falls under two headings: “Establishment – Mayor’s Allowance” and “Establishment – Mayor’s Entertainment Fund”.
The Mayoral Allowance budget is to defray reasonable costs so that the office holder is not out of pocket for fulfilling the role of Mayor. It should not be used for personal expenditure. This budget may also be used by other members of the council, including the Deputy Mayor, when they are formally representing the council in place of, or in support of, the Mayor.
Where practicable, purchase orders should be raised and approved in advance of committing expenditure. Purchase orders will be raised consistent with financial regulations and authorised by the RFO in the normal manner.
Where the use of purchase orders is not practicable (for example, mileage, charity donations, raffle tickets), the expense process should be used after the expense has been incurred.
Submitted expense forms should be supported with receipts where practicable, though it is recognised that some cash expenditure will not be receipted.
The NJC (National Joint Council) mileage rates are the same as the prevailing HMRC mileage rates, available on the main HMRC website.
The Mayor’s Entertainment Fund is to be used only for formal council events or those directly related to council business. It should not be used for personal events or private parties.
The Mayor’s Expenses Budget must not be used to pay for:
If the Mayor has designated charities and there is expenditure related to setting up charitable events, claims for reimbursement should be submitted through the established purchase order scheme. Monies distributed to charities will be net of any related non-staff costs and should not be topped up from any separate underspent Council budgets.
The council Mayor may decide to forgo all or part of their allowance entitlement. The Mayor must do this by notice in writing to the proper officer of the council.
The Parish Council will keep records of all allowance payments and, at the end of each financial year:
Signed: ……………………………………… Chair
Dated: 26 November 2025
The Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1021) establish the framework for how local authorities in England can pay allowances to their elected members.
Full text available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1021/contents/made
These amendments update the 2003 Regulations, particularly in relation to parish councils.
Full text available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/2596/contents/made
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APRIL 30TH: Methodist Church meeting room
MAY 28TH: Methodist Church meeting room
JUNE 25TH: Methodist Church meeting room
JULY 30TH: Methodist Church meeting room
All meetings will commence at 07.00pm unless otherwise stated on
the agenda.