Calculation of time

[Parish Quiz]

I'm trying to find a definitive guide for how to calculate the "period of six consecutive months" for the purposes of the Local Government Act 1972, S85. If a councillor attended a meeting on 21st May 2024, would the last day for attending a meeting so as not to lose their seat be 20th November or 21st November? I've looked at the Interpretation Act 1889, but am no clearer on the matter. Any sage advice is welcome.

[echat11]

Hi PARISH QUIZ

Welcome to LB

islandgirl I'm fairly confident that she will know this.

[PallasAthena]

My interpretation (not a legal opinion and I am not a lawyer) is that the ' corresponding date' rule of interpretation would apply unless the Act says otherwise [Dodds v Walker [1980] 1 WLR 1061] Dodds v Walker: HL 1981 - swarb.co.uk

The Act says the 6 months starts from "from the date of his last attendance" at a meeting. So if a Councillor attended a meeting on 21st May the 6 months starts running from that day.

The 'corresponding date' 6 months from then would be 21st November so the Councillor has up to (and including) that date to attend a meeting to avoid disqualification. If he does not attend a meeting by that date he is disqualified from 22nd November.

That's just my personal opinion and I look forward to seeing anything more definive from the lawyers here.

[Parish Quiz]

PallasAthena The Act states that it is from the date of his last attendance and the go-to sector specific publication (Arnold-Baker on Local Council Administration) which does a fine job of interpreting the various laws, states that "The period begins with the last meeting attended". The Monitoring Officer has stated that they were "disqualified from 21st November", but I could really do with something that states that they ceased to be a councillor at either 00:00 hours or 24:00 hours on that day.

[echat11]

islandgirl is a Magistrate, so might have that piece of knowledge.

[PallasAthena]

PallasAthena The Act states that it is from the date of his last attendance and the go-to sector specific publication (Arnold-Baker on Local Council Administration) which does a fine job of interpreting the various laws, states that "The period begins with the last meeting attended". The Monitoring Officer has stated that they were "disqualified from 21st November", but I could really do with something that states that they ceased to be a councillor at either 00:00 hours or 24:00 hours on that day.

Yes, I think we are saying the same thing. The period of 6 months expires on 21st November. But my interpretation is that means it expires at Midnight at the end of 21st November, not at 00.01 hours at the start of 21st November. Maybe your monitoring officer has legal precedent for what "expiring on dd/mm/yyyy" means?

[Parish Quiz]

Maybe your monitoring officer has legal precedent for what "expiring on dd/mm/yyyy" means?

Unfortunately she's clamming up now.

[atticus]

s85(1) reads:

Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, if a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority, he shall, unless the failure was due to some reason approved by the authority before the expiry of that period, cease to be a member of the authority.

The period is, as highlighted, six consecutive months from the date of ... last attendance.

So if the last meeting attended was on 21 May, using usual rules of interpretation, you start counting on 22 May, and therefore the period ends on 21 November. The period for compliance would end at the end of that day, and not the beginning.

[PallasAthena]

I presume this isn't hypothetical and there is a councillor to whom these dates apply and they did attend a meeting on 21st November? So would not be disqualified on my interpretation but would be on the monitoring officer's?

I guess when the council has to take an actual decision on this the Monitoring Officer's advice carries more weight than anything from anonymous strangers online irrespective of who is legally more correct!

[islandgirl]

Sorry - late to the party. I do not know as a magistrate but as a councillor does it not mean 6 months from the date of the last meeting to the date of the next? They cannot attend one if there isn't one...I sit on the standards committee at my council - you can ask them if there is any issue

[echat11]

Sorry - late to the party. I do not know as a magistrate but as a councillor does it not mean 6 months from the date of the last meeting to the date of the next? They cannot attend one if there isn't one...I sit on the standards committee at my council - you can ask them if there is any issue

Yes, 'many hats'.