£900,000 - new total cost of councillors' allowances
Date published: 19 December 2016
Councillor Ashley Dearnley (seen with his hand raised high voting for the increases) will see his total allowance rise from £17,184 to £21,425
The massive increase in councillors' allowances - voted for by councillors at last week's full council meeting - means the total cost of the allowances paid to councillors will rise to just under £900,000, an additional £172,600 per year.
The basic allowance (BA) for each of the 60 councillors will be £10,451 (a 34% increase).
However, the basic allowance increase has a cascading effect on many other 'extra' allowances, known as a special responsibility allowances (SRA) - these are paid on top of the basic allowance.
Half of all councillors receive a special responsibility allowance.
The SRA of council leader Richard Farnell is calculated as three times the basic allowance. The others are calculated as a percentage of the leader's SRA.
The massive rise in the basic allowance gave the leader an additional rise in SRA, which in turn gave the other councillors in receipt of a special responsiblility allowance an additional rise*.
For example, the Leader of the Opposition Conservative Party, Ashley Dearnley, will now receive a basic allowance of £10,451 plus an SRA of £10,974, a total of £21,425 (previously BA of £7,812 + SRA of £9,372 = £17,184).
| POSITION | No. Paid |
Basic Allowance |
Total Per Councillor (BA+SRA) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BASIC ALLOWANCE | 60 | £10,451 | |||
| SPECIAL RESPONSBILITY ALLOWANCES | SRA annual | ||||
| EXECUTIVE | |||||
| Leader & Regeneration | 1 | £31,353 | 3 X BA | £41,804 | |
| Deputy Leaders | 2 | £15,677 | 50% of Leader | £26,128 | |
| Other Cabinet Members | 6 | £14,109 | 45% of Leader | £24,560 | |
| Assistants to Portfolio | 9 | £2,822 | 20% of Cabinet | £13,273 | |
| OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY (O&S) | |||||
| Chairpersons O&S Committees | 3 | £7,838 | 25% of Leader | £18,289 | |
| REGULATORY | |||||
| Chairperson Audit & Governance Committee | 1 | £6,271 | 20% of Leader | £16,722 | |
| Chairperson Planning & Licensing Committee | 1 | £10,451 | 1/3 of Leader | £20,902 | |
| Chairperson Employment & Equalities Committee | 1 | £6,271 | 20% of Leader | £16,722 | |
| TOWNSHIPS | |||||
| Chairpersons Townships | 4 | £7,838 | 25% of Leader | £18,289 | |
| OPPOSITION POSTS | |||||
| Leader Main Opposition Group | 1 | £10,974 | 35% of Leader | £21,425 | |
| OTHER | |||||
| Lead Member – Armed Forces | 1 | £2,822 | 20% of Cabinet | £13,273 | |
| Sub Total - Basic Allowances | 60 | £627,060 | |||
| Sub Total - SRAs | 30 | £269,910 | |||
| Leader's GMCA SRA | 1 | £5,500 | £5,500 | ||
| Total | £896,970 |
*A small number of minor SRAs are to be discontinued and the Lead Member for the Armed Forces SRA is significantly reduced.
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