Councillors' Travel (Tax Exemptions)

David Gauke Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2014 Written Statements

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

The Government are announcing today that they intend to introduce legislation to exempt from income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs), travel expenses payments made to local councillors.

Local councillors perform a vital but frequently unsung constitutional role working on behalf of local people, often in addition to other professional and personal commitments. They are required to perform their duties in both the communities they serve and their council offices and most receive no payment other than allowances in recognition of the time and expenses they incur.

The Government want to ensure that nobody is discouraged from representing their local community as a local councillor and therefore intend to introduce this new exemption so that in the future, travel expenses paid to local councillors, including those to cover the costs of journeys to their council offices, are not subject to income tax or NICs.

The Government will provide further details of the exemption, and the time scale for introduction, in the autumn.