Independant Persons
Salary: A daily attendance allowance of £300 will be paid and reasonable travel expenses will also be reimbursed
Closing date: 12 noon on Monday 08th September 2025
The City of London Corporation provides local government services for the financial and commercial heart of Britain, the “Square Mile.” It is committed to promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct amongst its elected members who serve the City’s residents, workers and businesses.
The Corporation is seeking four Independent Persons to join its established Panel of Independent Persons, in the place of four members who are stepping down from the Panel in 2025. Under the Localism Act 2011, the Corporation must appoint at least one independent person whose views must be sought and taken into account before it makes a decision on a complaint against a member. The Corporation undertook a review of its overall governance arrangements in 2021 and, as part of this, reviewed its standards regime in particular. Following this, they recruited a “Panel of Independent Persons”, to assist the Corporation in promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct by elected and co-opted members.
The Panel has been in operating since 2022 and consists of a total of twelve members and provides objective and impartial views on complaints against elected and co-opted members for consideration by the Court of Common Council. The Independent Persons may also be called to give a view to a member against whom a complaint has been made or in relation to certain disciplinary matters relating to senior officers. In addition to the usual duties of an Independent Person, those appointed to the Panel will also be empowered to maintain the rules and procedures for a three-stage process (incorporating potential informal resolution processes and an investigation stage, the formal hearing stage, and an appeals process), providing greater autonomy and independence than under previous arrangements. The Panel will also consider applications for dispensations to speak and vote at meetings where there might be considered to be a potential conflict of interest and make recommendations to the Town Clerk thereon.
We are seeking individuals with relevant experience in the private or public sector and with a keen interest in local government and standards of behaviour – a legal background is not essential, and we welcome a diverse range of relevant employment / sector background. Good communication and questioning skills are vital as is the ability to be objective, assertive and non-judgemental. There is a requirement to ensure panel members can demonstrate impartiality and integrity which the public can have full confidence in.
A daily attendance allowance of £300 will be paid and reasonable travel expenses will also be reimbursed. Attendance depends on the number and complexity of cases to be dealt with as well as any necessary briefing and training sessions.
Closing date: 12 noon on Monday 08th September 2025
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Applications are to be made via email only, to apply please click on the apply link to download the application pack.
Please return all applications to Gemma Stokley gemma.stokley@cityoflondon.gov.uk by midday on Monday 8 September 2025.
Alternatively, please contact 020 7332 3978 (24 hr answerphone) quoting reference number OOTC723 if you experience any difficulties. A minicom service for the hearing impaired is available on 020 7332 3732.
If this role is advertised as a secondment, secondments are subject to the agreement of your department releasing you, therefore, you need to discuss this with your line manager prior to applying. The purpose of this will be to discuss what, if any, impact your secondment might have on the service and service delivery should your application be successful, and how this might be addressed.
The City of London Corporation is committed to Equal Opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.
We reserve the right to close the advert earlier should we receive a high number of applications.
Because our roles are so varied, we don’t have a ‘one size fits all’ policy for workplace attendance. How many days a week you’ll be required to attend your workplace will depend on the requirements of your role. It’s important that you understand the requirements before applying to ensure you are able to meet them. We are committed to considering requests to work flexibly and job share. Requests will be considered by the recruiting manager in line with our policies and business needs.
We will be reviewing this policy and approach at regular intervals to ensure we’re meeting our attendance needs.