Decision - Notice of Motion - Armed Forces Covenant and Military Compensation

Notice of Motion - Armed Forces Covenant and Military Compensation

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Decision:

That the Director of Finance update the relevant policy documents (as they are rewritten) to take account of our current working practice.

Reasons for the decision:

To respond to the Motion in respect of the armed forces covenant and military compensation.

Alternative options considered:

None.

Implementation:

This decision will come into force and may be implemented on 2 October 2023 unless the call-in procedure is triggered (as set out in Standing Orders in relation to Overview and Scrutiny).

Information:

The Cabinet considered a motion in relation to the armed forces covenant and military compensation notice of which was given in accordance with Standing Order A14.

The Cabinet provided the following response:

The Cabinet support all serving and ex-serving personnel and especially all those that made the ultimate sacrifice.

Within Torbay we have a cenotaph in each of the bay’s three towns Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. In addition, War Memorials online informs us that Brixham has at least 12 memorials, Paignton features 12 memorials and Torquay has a further 47 memorials. These additional memorials are in multiple forms, anything from Limestone and granite tributes, framed brass tablets, church clocks, benches, crosses and includes many plaques.

On 22nd March 2023, Torbay reconfirmed its support to the Armed Forces with a ceremony held at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone to signify our continued commitment of the Armed Forces Covenant. The covenant includes the commitment that the Armed Forces community should not face disadvantage in the provision of services and access to benefit support.

The Council acknowledge the ‘Credit their service’ campaign and confirm we do not discriminate against veterans, and we disregard all military payments including the War Pension Scheme, Veterans Occupational Armed Forces Pension Scheme, Service Invaliding Pension, Service Attributable Pensions and any supplementary military payments. Indeed we do proactively ask residents to inform us if they are in receipt of any of these and in some cases it may actually increase the level of benefit support provided. Whilst this is our standard working practise, we do recognise that this process and current practice is not consistently written into our policy documents.

In light of the above, Councillor Tranter proposed and Councillor Tyerman seconded a motion that was agreed unanimously, as set out above.

Interests and Nature of Interests Declared:

None.

Publication date: 22/09/2023

Date of decision: 19/09/2023

Effective from: 30/09/2023

This decision has been called in by:

Councillor Steve Darling who writes 1. The notice of motion asked Torbay Council to erect a plaque to commemorate the national servicemen of Torbay. The Cabinet failed to give any tangible reason not to do so. A simple search on the Imperial War Museum webiste will demonstrate that Torbay as a whole has a significantly lower number of war memorials in comparison to other similarly sized communities, such as Exeter or Portsmouth. 2. Cabinet appears to have completely misunderstood the Royal British Legion Credit Their Service campaign which has requested that local authorities disregard compensation payments made to service personnel when calculating benefits such as Discretionary Housing Benefit and Disabled Facilities Grants etc. Since submitting the notice of motion, we have become aware that in Torbay Disabled Facilities Grants were the only grant where such disregards were not applied. There benefits were clearly stated within the notice of motion. Cllr Thomas suggested that there was no mention of DFGs and asked to be 'jumped upon' if there was a mention in the notice of motion. Cabinet remained silent and so was complicit in misleading the meeting on this point. Cllr Billings also suggested that DFGs did not feature within the notice of motion, compounding the confusion. In fact, he stated it was "only raised during debate". In light of the above, we would ask that Overview and Scrutiny request that Cabinet reconsider their decision."
Councillor Kelly Harvey who writes 1. The notice of motion asked Torbay Council to erect a plaque to commemorate the national servicemen of Torbay. The Cabinet failed to give any tangible reason not to do so. A simple search on the Imperial War Museum webiste will demonstrate that Torbay as a whole has a significantly lower number of war memorials in comparison to other similarly sized communities, such as Exeter or Portsmouth. 2. Cabinet appears to have completely misunderstood the Royal British Legion Credit Their Service campaign which has requested that local authorities disregard compensation payments made to service personnel when calculating benefits such as Discretionary Housing Benefit and Disabled Facilities Grants etc. Since submitting the notice of motion, we have become aware that in Torbay Disabled Facilities Grants were the only grant where such disregards were not applied. There benefits were clearly stated within the notice of motion. Cllr Thomas suggested that there was no mention of DFGs and asked to be 'jumped upon' if there was a mention in the notice of motion. Cabinet remained silent and so was complicit in misleading the meeting on this point. Cllr Billings also suggested that DFGs did not feature within the notice of motion, compounding the confusion. In fact, he stated it was "only raised during debate". In light of the above, we would ask that Overview and Scrutiny request that Cabinet reconsider their decision."
Councillor Nicole Amil who writes 1. The notice of motion asked Torbay Council to erect a plaque to commemorate the national servicemen of Torbay. The Cabinet failed to give any tangible reason not to do so. A simple search on the Imperial War Museum webiste will demonstrate that Torbay as a whole has a significantly lower number of war memorials in comparison to other similarly sized communities, such as Exeter or Portsmouth. 2. Cabinet appears to have completely misunderstood the Royal British Legion Credit Their Service campaign which has requested that local authorities disregard compensation payments made to service personnel when calculating benefits such as Discretionary Housing Benefit and Disabled Facilities Grants etc. Since submitting the notice of motion, we have become aware that in Torbay Disabled Facilities Grants were the only grant where such disregards were not applied. There benefits were clearly stated within the notice of motion. Cllr Thomas suggested that there was no mention of DFGs and asked to be 'jumped upon' if there was a mention in the notice of motion. Cabinet remained silent and so was complicit in misleading the meeting on this point. Cllr Billings also suggested that DFGs did not feature within the notice of motion, compounding the confusion. In fact, he stated it was "only raised during debate". In light of the above, we would ask that Overview and Scrutiny request that Cabinet reconsider their decision."
Councillor Darren Cowell who writes 1. The notice of motion asked Torbay Council to erect a plaque to commemorate the national servicemen of Torbay. The Cabinet failed to give any tangible reason not to do so. A simple search on the Imperial War Museum webiste will demonstrate that Torbay as a whole has a significantly lower number of war memorials in comparison to other similarly sized communities, such as Exeter or Portsmouth. 2. Cabinet appears to have completely misunderstood the Royal British Legion Credit Their Service campaign which has requested that local authorities disregard compensation payments made to service personnel when calculating benefits such as Discretionary Housing Benefit and Disabled Facilities Grants etc. Since submitting the notice of motion, we have become aware that in Torbay Disabled Facilities Grants were the only grant where such disregards were not applied. There benefits were clearly stated within the notice of motion. Cllr Thomas suggested that there was no mention of DFGs and asked to be 'jumped upon' if there was a mention in the notice of motion. Cabinet remained silent and so was complicit in misleading the meeting on this point. Cllr Billings also suggested that DFGs did not feature within the notice of motion, compounding the confusion. In fact, he stated it was "only raised during debate". In light of the above, we would ask that Overview and Scrutiny request that Cabinet reconsider their decision."
Councillor Cordelia Law who writes 1. The notice of motion asked Torbay Council to erect a plaque to commemorate the national servicemen of Torbay. The Cabinet failed to give any tangible reason not to do so. A simple search on the Imperial War Museum webiste will demonstrate that Torbay as a whole has a significantly lower number of war memorials in comparison to other similarly sized communities, such as Exeter or Portsmouth. 2. Cabinet appears to have completely misunderstood the Royal British Legion Credit Their Service campaign which has requested that local authorities disregard compensation payments made to service personnel when calculating benefits such as Discretionary Housing Benefit and Disabled Facilities Grants etc. Since submitting the notice of motion, we have become aware that in Torbay Disabled Facilities Grants were the only grant where such disregards were not applied. There benefits were clearly stated within the notice of motion. Cllr Thomas suggested that there was no mention of DFGs and asked to be 'jumped upon' if there was a mention in the notice of motion. Cabinet remained silent and so was complicit in misleading the meeting on this point. Cllr Billings also suggested that DFGs did not feature within the notice of motion, compounding the confusion. In fact, he stated it was "only raised during debate". In light of the above, we would ask that Overview and Scrutiny request that Cabinet reconsider their decision."