How decisions are made

The Cabinet

The Leader of the Council chooses up to nine other councillors to become Cabinet Members. Each of these Cabinet Members looks after particular services and have specific responsibilities.

The Cabinet normally meets 11 times a year. These meetings take place in County Hall in Chelmsford and are open to the public. You can also watch on our ECC Democracy YouTube channel.

A typical Cabinet meeting includes discussion of key issues across members’ areas of responsibility, recommendations to Full Council about policy or the budget and any urgent issues that have come up.

Cabinet Member decisions

Cabinet Members can take decisions about matters within their area of responsibility, as long they don't go against council policy.

Decisions that have a significant impact on spending or services are known as Key Decisions. These have to be published in the Council's Forward Plan before being acted upon.

All decisions are subject to a three-day call-in period. This means that if a councillor on a Scrutiny Committee asks for the decision to be reversed or reviewed it must be looked at by a Committee.

Members of the Cabinet