Councillors advice

Introduction Contributions or tithing is the process by which elected representatives give a portion of their expenses or salary to support the party and its…

This advice is designed to help councillors understand what they need to do to comply with all current data protection legislation including the General Data…

Councillors are free to approach any Council Directorate/Department to provide them with such information, explanation and advice (about that Directorate’s/ Department’s functions) as they may…

Scrutiny commissions are there to provide a balance to the Cabinet and Strong Leader models of governance in local authorities. They can be an effective…

What does this cover? We get a fair number of queries from Liberal Democrats who serve as members of Parish or Town Councils regarding issues…

These often cause confusion as they have same name but entirely different meanings: The first is to avoid unnecessary by-elections. For the last six months…

What does the law require councils to have in place to regulate standards? The Localism Act 2011 revoked on the 1st July 2012 the statutory…

All principal councils are legally obliged to make sure that their committees and sub-committees reflect the political make-up of the council as a whole. Similar…

What is an outside appointment? An outside appointments is any appointment made by a council to an external body such as a housing association, charity…

The Liberal Democrat Group is the basic “building block” of how we work together on the Council. Regular well attended group meetings are essential. The…

How Meetings Work Meetings are governed by Standing Orders and you need to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of what is contained in them.…

Local Champion That means you! That’s what we say about our Councillors on FOCUS leaflets and it needs to be true. You’re the person that…

Keeping your seat The campaign to keep your council seat in four years time starts today! Here’s our plan for keeping your ward a Liberal…

Forms and Practicalities You need to sign an Acceptance of Office form as soon as possible (at the latest two months). Practical things to sort…

Scrutiny All members of the Council who are not Executive Members, have an opportunity to take part in scrutiny. This works differently in different councils,…

The Localism Act and the Sustainable Communities Act give new powers to Councils and Local people. These new powers are additional tools in our arsenal…

What is IFTTT? IFTTT is a (free) online automation service that allows users to improve the efficiency of their online activities. IFTTT stands for “If…

Why not get a quote for your council group or local party? What do group members receive? ALL the individual member benefits – PLUS: 12%…

What does Freedom of Information mean for councillors? There are two main issues which need to be considered when discussing the relationship between freedom of…

What do I do if one of my councillors is going to defect away from us? Occasionally, for a whole host of reasons, people will…

How much do Councillors get paid? All principal authorities (i.e. higher than Town and Parish) have some sort of allowances scheme (a small number of…

What is council group recognition for? Council group recognition is a process that was introduced by the English Liberal Democrats in 2011. It was brought…

Casework is local issues or problems, affecting a community, street, or individual, that we attempt to do something about in our role as a Lib…

What is a call-in? A ‘Call in’ is a statutory process, introduced by the Local Government Act 2000, which enables a prescribed number of members…

The six-month rule If a vacancy occurs within six months of the date when that councillor’s term of office would have expired, there will be…