Attention grabbing headlines are all very well, but understanding the context, often puts a story in a different light.
The Independent Remuneration Panel – which is made up of four individuals who are, as the panel’s name suggests, independent of the council – have put forward their recommendations for councillors’ allowances.
The allowances are considered by the panel and for the sixth year running sees members’ (ie. councillors) basic allowances remain at £7,903. All councillors receive this allowance.
Leader’s allowance
Those who perform additional roles, such as Leader of the council or Committee chairmen also receive what’s called a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA).
Under the recommendations put forward by the Panel, the Leader of the council will receive a rise in his SRA from £11,549 to £15,806, giving him a total allowance of £23,709.
Many would argue this is a fairly modest salary for someone governing a multi-million pound ‘business’ (as it was referred to by former CEO Steve Beynon). In fact, the Panel say the current figure of £11,549 is below the regional average of all authorities of £17,626, with the average for unitary councils being £20,176.
The previous leader of the council, David Pugh, received £23,709 on top of his basic allowance, giving him a total allowance of £31,612 (see the documents embedded at the bottom of the article confirming the sums).
The recommendations
The total budget for all allowances currently sits at £475,865, but if the council agree to the recommendations being put forward, the allowances expenditure for 2014/15 would be reduced to £471,696.
The council can choose to reject the recommendations or make amendments.
The figures
Papers for tomorrow’s full council meeting reveal that “the Independent Remuneration Panel has considered a range of evidence and benchmarking data in reaching its conclusions and believes its recommendations are appropriate, justifiable, equitable and affordable”.
The recommendations are valid assuming the council agrees the new governance arrangements (moving to the hybrid-Committee systems).
The papers are embedded below for those who wish to read further into the recommendations. Click on the full screen icon to see larger versions.
Papers from June 2013 meeting
Papers from Jan 2013 meeting
Image: Images of Money under CC BY 2.0
