The Administration Committee for Kensington and Chelsea Council were scheduled to meet on Thursday 11 September 2025 to discuss changes to the council's constitution and municipal timetable, and to note the details of the Business Efficiency and Voluntary Redundancy Scheme 2025-26. The committee was invited to make recommendations on the full implementation of the Business Efficiency and Voluntary Redundancy Scheme 2025-26, and to recommend that the Full Council adopt the changes to the constitution and agree to the changes to the municipal timetable 2026/27.

Changes to the Constitution

The Administration Committee was scheduled to consider proposed changes to the council's constitution and make a recommendation to the Full Council on whether to adopt them.

The proposed changes included:

• Changes to Standing Orders 11 and 22, which relate to the process for councillors to ask questions during council meetings.
• Changes to loan agreement procedures.
• Amendments to contract regulations.
• A new standing order relating to council motions.

Standing Orders 11 and 22

Standing Orders 11 and 22 relate to the ability of councillors to raise ward issues and ask questions of lead members¹ during council meetings. The report pack noted that opposition members had raised concerns that the standing orders did not contain a provision for a ward or local issue, and that some councillors had been submitting requests months in advance of meetings.

To address these issues, it was proposed that:

• The number of speaking slots be increased to five for both local ward issues and questions to lead members.
• A submission date be introduced, two weeks before the meeting.
• Speaking slots be allocated according to the size of the political groups in the council, with each group being allocated a slot for every ten councillors.

The report pack included a table illustrating how the allocation of slots could work, based on the size of the groups. For the current council, it was suggested that the Labour Group, the Liberal Democrat Group, the Independent Group and the ungrouped councillors would submit requests for two slots.

The report pack also outlined alternative options that were considered but not recommended, including retaining the current system, using the current formula for questions to lead members for local or ward issues, not introducing a submission date, and introducing an earlier submission date.

Loan Agreements

The council has a Treasury Management Strategy, which is approved by the Full Council each year as part of the budget process². The report pack stated that over the past two years, £330m has been borrowed through this strategy to support the council's objectives. It also noted that while the Executive Director for Resources has the authority to execute the strategy, the council's contract regulations require that any contract in excess of £100,000 be executed by way of deed.

To address concerns that this requirement may delay transactions and impair the ability to lend money or secure loans at the most favourable rates, it was proposed that the contract regulations and the functions delegated to officers be amended.

The proposed changes included adding the following text to Contract Regulation 8.04:

Contracts in excess of £100,000 (exclusive of VAT), including loan agreements for specific projects must be forwarded to Legal Services for execution as a deed and sealing unless (i) the contract forms part of the day-to-day activity of Council's Treasury Management Strategy under the authority of the Executive Director of Resources (recorded by a Delegated Authority Decision or equivalent document) and to confirm these contracts by electronic signature rather than sealing, or (ii) the Monitoring Officer agrees otherwise.

It was also proposed that the delegation to the Executive Director for Resources be amended to include the words for Full Council approval after Annual Treasury Management Strategy .

Contract Regulations

The council's contract lawyers have reviewed the Contract Regulations and have identified some minor corrections and recommendations that are required to ensure the regulations are consistent and accurate.

The more significant amendments are:

• Removing a requirement for all contracts to be processed through the Legal Services electronic signature platform, instead this will be applied only to contracts exceeding £100,000 in value.
• The addition of two further grounds for a waiver of a provision of Contract Regulations.

All the proposed changes are set out in tracked changes in Appendix One.

Council Motions

The report pack noted that there had been a request to consider what should happen to any motions published on a Full Council agenda but have not yet been debated.

To address this, it was proposed that the following text be added to Standing Order 14:

14.12 Any motion that has been published on a Full Council agenda but not debated shall lapse if not debated before the four-yearly local council elections.

The report pack also outlined alternative options that were considered but not recommended, including motions lapsing after the meeting at which they were first tabled, motions lapsing at the end of the municipal year³ in which they were first tabled, and making no changes to the current system.

Business Efficiency and Voluntary Redundancy Scheme 2025-26

The Administration Committee was invited to note the details of the Business Efficiency and Voluntary Redundancy Scheme (BEVR) 2025-26 and make any recommendations on its full implementation.

The report pack stated that the council has significant financial pressures in the medium term and that one of the areas identified to reduce costs is to reduce the headcount of the workforce. To mitigate the need for compulsory redundancies, the council launched a temporary Business Efficiency and Voluntary Redundancy Scheme.

The scheme attracted 160 applications by interested employees during the application window (17 July - 4 September 2025). Employees whose applications are approved will exit the council up until March 2026 the latest, unless exceptional council business circumstances apply.

The report pack noted that the financial impact of the scheme can only be confirmed once all applications have been assessed and approvals made and accepted.

The BEVR Scheme aims at achieving savings and mitigating the need for compulsory redundancies in an efficient and compliant manner that safeguards employee morale and retains key workforce.

The report pack stated that the main alternative method of delivering the required savings would be via compulsory restructures, which would require significant additional resourcing to support Human Resources and management, with adverse impact on employee engagement.

Changes to the Municipal Timetable

The Administration Committee was invited to recommend that the Full Council agree to changes to the Municipal Timetable 2026/27.

The report pack stated that the next council elections will take place on Thursday 7 May 2026 and that it would be beneficial to allow as much time as practicable between the elections and the Annual Council meeting.

It was recommended that the currently scheduled date of the Annual Council meeting be moved from Wednesday 20 May to Wednesday 27 May 2026.

If approved, the Municipal Timetable would then read:

• Thursday 14 May – Group meetings (unchanged)
• Thursday 21 May – Group meetings' if needed (new)
• Wednesday 27 May – Annual Council
• Monday 1 June – reserve Annual Council