Citation and application

1.–(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Accounts and Audit (Amendment No. 2) (England) Regulations 2009.

(2) These Regulations apply to relevant bodies(3) in England only.

Commencement

2.–(1) Subject to paragraph (3), these Regulations come into force on 31^st March 2010.

(2) Paragraph (3) applies where, by virtue of an agreement entered into before, and continuing in force until on or after the date on which these Regulations are made, between a relevant body and–

(a) a senior employee, or

(b) a relevant police officer,

there is a duty of confidentiality owed by the relevant body in relation to the remuneration paid to or received by the senior employee or relevant police officer.

(3) Where this paragraph applies, the amendments made by regulation 4 of these Regulations to regulation 7 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003(4) do not come into force until 1^st April 2010, in so far as those amendments would require a breach of the duty of confidentiality owed by the relevant body, under the agreement by virtue of which this paragraph applies, in relation to remuneration to be included in the accounts of the relevant body.

(4) In this regulation, "senior employee", "relevant police officer" and "remuneration" have the meaning given to those expressions by paragraph (2A) which is inserted into regulation 7 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 by regulation 3 of these Regulations.

Amendment of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003

3. The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 are amended as set out in regulation 4.

Declaration of remuneration

4.–(1) Regulation 7 (statement of accounts)(5) is amended as follows.

(2) At the end of paragraph (2)(a), remove "and".

(3) In paragraph (2)(b)–

(a) at the beginning insert "except in relation to persons to whom paragraph (c) applies, ";

(b) after "employees", insert "or senior police officers";

(c) for "£10,000" substitute "£5,000"; and

(d) omit the words occurring after "£50,000;".

(4) After paragraph (2)(b), insert–

"(c) the remuneration, set out according to the categories listed in paragraph (d), by the relevant body during the relevant financial year of–

(i) senior employees, or

(ii) relevant police officers,

in respect of their employment by the relevant body or in their capacity as a police officer, whether on a permanent or temporary basis, to be listed individually in relation to such persons who must nevertheless be identified by way of job title only (except for persons whose salary is £150,000 or more per year, who must also be identified by name).

(d) the categories are:

(i) the total amount of salary, fees or allowances paid to or receivable by the person in the current and previous financial year;

(ii) the total amount of bonuses so paid or receivable in the current and previous financial year;

(iii) the total amount of sums paid by way of expenses allowance that are chargeable to United Kingdom income tax, and were paid to or receivable by the person;

(iv) the total amount of any compensation for loss of employment paid to or receivable by the person, and any other payments made to or receivable by the person in connection with the termination of their employment by the relevant body, or, in the case of a relevant police officer, the total amount of any payment made to a relevant police officer who ceases to hold office before the end of a fixed term appointment;

(v) the relevant body´s contribution to the person´s pension;

(vi) the total estimated value of any benefits received by the person otherwise than in cash that do not fall within (i) to (iv) above, are emoluments of the person, and are received by the person in respect of their employment by the relevant body or in their capacity as a police officer; and

(vii) in relation to relevant police officers, any payments, whether made under the Police Regulations 2003(6) or otherwise, which do not fall within (i) to (vi) above.

(2A) In this regulation–

"contribution to the person´s pension" means an amount to be calculated as follows–

"employee" includes a member of the relevant body, and a holder of an office under the relevant body, but does not include a person who is an elected councillor, and "employment" is to be construed accordingly;

"relevant police officer" means–

"remuneration" means all amounts paid to or receivable by a person, and includes sums due by way of expenses allowance (so far as those sums are chargeable to United Kingdom income tax), and the estimated money value of any other benefits received by an employee otherwise than in cash;

"senior employee" means an employee whose salary is £150,000 or more per year, or an employee whose salary is £50,000 or more per year (to be calculated pro rata for an employee employed for fewer than the usual full time hours for the relevant body concerned) who falls within at least one of the following categories–

"senior police officer" means a member of a police force holding a rank above that of superintendent.".

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 ("the 2003 Regulations") in relation to disclosure of remuneration for senior employees and senior police officers in the statement of accounts of certain bodies to which the 2003 Regulations apply.

The 2003 Regulations apply to "relevant bodies" in England, which are bodies whose accounts are required to be audited in accordance with Part 2 of the Audit Commission Act 1998, other than health service bodies, local probation boards and probation trusts.

Relevant bodies, other than "smaller relevant bodies" (whose gross income or expenditure (whichever is the higher) is less than £1 million per year), are required by the 2003 Regulations to produce a note accompanying their statement of accounts, specifying the number of employees whose total remuneration was more than £50,000 per year in that financial year, to be listed in brackets of a scale in multiples of £10,000. Regulation 4(3) of these Regulations extends this requirement to senior police officers (police officers above the rank of superintendent), and also changes the brackets in the scale to multiples of £5,000.

These Regulations also introduce a new requirement for the disclosure of the individual remuneration details of senior employees and relevant police officers for each financial year, under the following categories:

(i) salary, fees and allowances;

(ii) bonuses;

(iii) expenses allowance;

(iv) compensation for loss of employment;

(v) pension contribution;

(vi) any other emoluments; and

(vii) in the case of relevant police officers, any other payments made to them.

-˜Employee´ includes a member of, or an office holder under, a relevant body. A senior employee is a person whose salary is more than £150,000 per year, or whose salary is at least £50,000 per year (to be calculated pro rata for a part-time employee) and who is:

(a) the designated head of paid service, a statutory chief officer or a non-statutory chief officer of a relevant body, those terms having the meaning given by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;

(b) the head of staff for a relevant body which does not have a designated head of paid service; or

(c) any person having responsibility for the management of the relevant body.

A -˜relevant police officer´ is a chief constable, the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police, and any other police officer above the rank of superintendent whose salary is £150,000 or more per year.

The definition given to "contribution to the person´s pension" makes clear that the figure to be disclosed is the proportion of the relevant body´s contribution to the relevant contribution scheme which can be related to the senior employee or relevant police officer and does not include any contribution made by the senior employee or relevant police officer.

The obligation to disclose the remuneration of senior employees and relevant police officers does not apply for accounts prepared for the financial year 2009/10 in cases where the person concerned has the benefit of a confidentiality agreement in respect of the remuneration received.

An Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.