Welsh Ministers have made the Local Government (Standards Committees and Member Conduct) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2025 (WSI 2025/1217), laid before Senedd Cymru on 21 November 2025 and commencing on 5 January 2026. The instrument updates who can serve as an independent member of standards committees and modernises equality and respect provisions in the conduct framework.
Eligibility rules for former members are reset. Individuals who previously held a senior, cabinet or executive post in a Welsh authority face a five‑year cooling‑off period before they can join that authority’s standards committee as an independent member; all other former members face a two‑year period before joining the standards committee of an authority of which they were a member. For corporate joint committees (CJCs), the same approach applies: a five‑year period where the person held a senior, cabinet or executive post in a constituent authority, and a two‑year period where they were a member of the CJC or of a constituent authority or National Park authority of that CJC.
The term “senior, cabinet or executive post” is defined in the Regulations to include the chair and vice‑chair under the Local Government Act 1972, any presiding member and deputy presiding member, an elected mayor and deputy mayor under the Local Government Act 2000, an executive leader and executive members, and an overview and scrutiny committee chair appointed under section 66 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011. This provides an exhaustive, statute‑based list to remove ambiguity in appointments.
Former officers can now serve as independent members of standards committees, subject to safeguards. Where the individual previously held a politically restricted post or served as a registration officer, a two‑year period applies before joining the standards committee of the authority in which they held that post. Equivalent conditions apply for CJCs, including politically restricted posts within a CJC or its constituent authorities. The statutory touchpoints are section 2 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 for politically restricted posts and section 8(2A) of the Representation of the People Act 1983 for registration officers.
These changes replace a long‑standing lifetime bar in the 2001 standards committee regulations, which stakeholders argued excluded a wide pool of experienced candidates. Welsh Government consultation materials trailed the shift toward proportionate, time‑limited restrictions, seeking views on appropriate periods for former councillors and employees. The final Regulations adopt five‑ and two‑year periods, aligning appointments more closely with risk while broadening the recruitment base.
Member conduct principles are updated. The Conduct of Members (Principles) (Wales) Order 2001 now references “protected characteristics” (as defined by section 4 of the Equality Act 2010) and “socio‑economic circumstances” in the equality and respect principle, replacing the older enumerated list. Protected characteristics cover categories such as age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
The Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct) (Wales) Order 2008 is amended in parallel. The Schedule’s equality and respect requirement now mirrors the updated principle by referring to protected characteristics or socio‑economic circumstances, and the Code gains an explicit definition of protected characteristics by reference to the Equality Act 2010. This ensures consistency between the high‑level principles and the mandatory Code applied by Welsh authorities.
For monitoring officers and democratic services, the operational impact is immediate. Person specifications and recruitment materials for independent members should be revised to reflect the two‑ and five‑year periods, with eligibility checks referencing prior senior/cabinet roles and politically restricted or registration officer posts. Training on the Code of Conduct and local protocols should be updated to reflect the Equality Act‑based terminology and the inclusion of socio‑economic circumstances.
CJCs should note that the same eligibility tests apply to their standards committees, and that politically restricted post definitions now expressly extend to CJCs. Governance teams may wish to map prospective candidates’ service histories across constituent authorities to avoid inadvertent conflicts with the new cooling‑off rules, and align their local procedures with section 53 of the Local Government Act 2000 on establishing and operating standards committees.
The Regulations were signed by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Jayne Bryant, on 19 November 2025. Ministers consulted representatives of relevant authorities, the Auditor General for Wales and the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales before laying the instrument. A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and published by the Welsh Government. Compliance is required from 5 January 2026.