GLRO16-22 Recoverable Amount payments to Boroughs for 2016 Elections

1.1. The elections for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly (14 constituency members and 11 London-wide members) will take place in May 2016. There are 14 Assembly constituencies in London, each comprising multiple London boroughs, with a lead borough in each constituency. The poll will be held on the 5th May. The ballot papers from each borough are subsequently transported to one of three Count Centres, where all votes are counted. Once the votes have been counted, the results of the constituency elections are declared by the respective constituency returning officer. Once further calculations have been made, the results of the Mayoral and London-wide Assembly member elections are announced at City Hall.

1.2. The actual and necessary costs of running the election in each Constituency are reimbursed by the GLA.

1.3. The GLA provides 90% of a calculated Maximum Recoverable (an amount made available to Constituency Returning Officers to deliver the GLA elections) during April 2016, before the Election. The allocation for each borough can be found at Appendix 1.

1.4. To reclaim the remaining costs incurred, each borough will submit a return recording any expenditure in relation to the Election. Once the borough’s claims are verified, settlement payments will be made to lead boroughs.

2.1 The objective of this decision is to provide the Boroughs with the funds required to host the London Mayoral and Assembly Elections and reimburse any necessary costs incurred. All claims are planned to be settled within the 2016/17 financial year.

a) Key risks and issues

3.1 The key risk in regard to this decision is that the necessary costs incurred in running the Election exceed the resources available. This will be mitigated by undertaking a thorough review of the expenditure claim forms submitted by the boroughs to ensure that only actual and necessary costs are reimbursed. The GLA also holds an Elections Reserve to fund costs incurred greater than the allocated budget.

b) Impact assessments and consultations.

3.2 The GLA consulted with the London Boroughs and requested estimated expenditure plans when calculating the Maximum Recoverable Amount. The GLA has communicated the funding allocated to each Constituency Returning Officer.

4.1 There are no adverse equality implications as this decision contains no proposed changes to new or existing services, policies or strategies.

5.1 The costs of funding the Boroughs to host the 2016 London Mayoral and Assembly Elections will be contained within the 2016/17 Election budget. In the event that expenditure exceeds the budget provision, additional costs will be funded from the Elections Reserve.

5.2 The payments will be made in two stages. The first stage payment of £9,785,364 is 90% of the total calculated Maximum Recoverable Amount. The second stage payment will be the remaining balance once the GLA has settled claims from the Boroughs post-election and will be subject to further approval.

6.1 Under section 36(4B) of the Representation of the People Act 1983, “All expenditure properly incurred by a returning officer in relation to the holding of an Authority election shall, in so far as it does not, in cases where there is a scale fixed for the purposes of this section by the Greater London Authority, exceed that scale, be paid by the Greater London Authority.”

6.2 It appears that the GLRO is, by the measures described above, making provision to make payment for such expenditure.