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Five in every six members of the ruling Conservative group on Lancashire County Council will this year receive a special responsibility allowance (SRA) for carrying out work at the authority over and above their duties as an ordinary councillor, newly-published figures show.

The list of roles includes standing positions like the leader of the council, cabinet members and chairs of County Hall’s committees - but also the more discretionary appointment of councillors to act as “lead members” and “member champions”.

The former focus on particular areas of policy, such as highways, and operate beneath the relevant cabinet portfolio holder - while the latter promote and advance work in relation to specific issues and sections of the community. Eleven county councillors currently hold one of the two titles.

The total SRA bill for the 2021/22 financial year will reach £430,000, with 44 members receiving an additional allowance - just over half of all the councillors sitting on the authority.

More than half of Lancashire County Council's elected members have an additional role at the authority on top of representing their area

Forty of those being paid SRAs are from the Tory group that retained control of the county council at May’s local elections - all bar eight of their total number.

SRAs are also awarded to the leader and deputy leader of the main Labour opposition - along with the group whips and secretaries for each of the two largest parties.

The payments are made in addition to the basic allowance received by all 84 Lancashire county councillors - which currently stands at £10,969 - and are designed to compensate members for the extra time they spend on their additional duty.

For cabinet members, that entails ultimately being responsible for the main policy decisions within their portfolio, while chairs of the committees that scrutinise the authority’s work are charged with ensuring the smooth and effective running of the regular meetings at which council officers - and representatives of other public and private sector organisations - are quizzed.

Lancashire County Council's member champion for older people, Joan Burrows

However, Liberal Democrat group leader and Preston West county councillor John Potter told a recent meeting of the county council’s independent remuneration panel - the group that makes recommendations about councillor allowances - that there needed to better scrutiny of the lead member and member champion roles at the authority.

This is how much Lancashire county councillors will receive in 'special responsibility' allowances this year