Pay rise for county councillors (From Western Telegraph)

Pembrokeshire county councillors given pay rise by Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales

11:00am Saturday 7th January 2012 in News

County councillors in Pembrokeshire will get a ‘pay rise’ next year – with top members receiving a hefty boost.

It follows a report by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales which sets allowance bands for elected and co-opted members of county councils, fire and rescue authorities and national park authorities in Wales.

Rather than setting maximums as in previous years, the panel has prescribed basic and senior salaries. These have been set at 5% and 10% below the current maximums respectively.

This means that the basic allowance for a county councillor next year will be £13,175 but all councillors also receive an annual £500 allowance for postage, IT and telephone calls, boosting a councillor’s basic allowance to £13,675, nearly £200 more than this year.

The leader’s allowance will jump from £42,986 to £48,000 and the council’s two deputy leaders will be paid £33,960, up nearly £5,000.

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority members will also see an increase in allowances with members’ basic remuneration increasing by £886. Chairman of the panel Richard Penn said: “We are making this change in response to the view consistently expressed to us by councillors across Wales that the setting of allowances should be taken out of the political arena.”

A Pembrokeshire County Council spokesman said: “The panel’s decision about levels of allowances is binding on all councils. Previously, the panel had recommended maximum permissible allowances and in Pembrokeshire, the county council had always set the levels significantly lower than the prescribed maximum.”