BARNET councillors have been reported to Barnet Council's standards committee amid allegations they broke the law in the way controversial changes were made to members' allowances.

Lib Dem leader Jack Cohen has made the report after papers on the changes to the structure, giving leader Lynne Hillan a £20,000 pay rise, were only submitted publicly the day before Tuesday's meeting.

Local government rules mean all papers must be submitted and available publicly at least three days before any meeting and say reports published on the day of meetings are not counted.

Councillor Cohen challenged the legality of the paper at Tuesday's full council meeting.

However, Mayor of Barnet Cllr Anthony Finn, who chaired the meeting, said the papers had been submitted late because of “IT problems” and then allowed the matter to be heard as an “urgent item”.

Under regulations to qualify for this status a report must be urgent, a decision on its urgency be taken properly by the chair of the meeting, have “special circumstances” as to why it should be considered and the reason for it being urgent be properly minuted.

Councillor Cohen told the Times Series: “They have dug themselves deeper into a hole, it was not urgent.

“We are not talking here about a situation for example where a person or persons would be put in danger if a decision was not taken.

“We were not up against deadlines which could put a capital project at risk nor were there any budget imperatives as the proposal is cost neutral for the current financial year, and finally there was no reason why the item could not have been deferred to the next council meeting.”

The standards committee, of which Cllr Cohen is a member, is a watchdog overseeing the ethical running of the council.

He added: “The whole point of having rules about the publication of council reports is so the public and members can have access to papers in good time.

“Late reports open the council to suspicion, disrepute and allegations of trying to suppress information.

“What is made worse in this case is when they were found out they attempted to use a loophole to try to avoid compliance. You do not expect a public body to behave in this way.”

The move, which sees cabinet members doubling their allowances for their duties, has created outrage among opposition councillors and many members of the public with the Government making “austerity” cutbacks.

For more details of the changes click on the related links below.