Wirral councillor lands 500% pay rise

Feb 11 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

A WIRRAL councillor will receive a 500% pay rise after new rates were agreed for members of the local authority.

Following advice from the Independent Remuneration Panel, the total bill for councillors’ allowances in Wirral will increase from April 1.

The move has been heavily criticised by the Conservative opposition, which was kicked off the ruling cabinet last year when Labour and Liberal Democrats were voted in.

But Wirral councillors have rejected a recommendation to increase the allowances by £240 a year.

And despite not receiving any increase for the last four years, councillors said they should not accept anything above the 1.9% increase which is the level recommended by the Government for public sector pay.

Councillors will see their basic allowance increase by £171 from the current £9,000 which has remained the same for the last four years.

However, special responsibility allowances, which are given to cabinet members and scrutiny committee chairs, will be extended to include the recently -formed Audit Committee, chaired by the Liberal Democrat Paula Southwood.

The allowance for the post will rise from £900 to £4,500 per annum “to reflect its importance”. Colleagues described the move as “fair, given the work involved in chairing the committee”.

Liberal Democrat leader Simon Holbrook said he did not expect the total bill for all allowances to increase significantly because payments to licensing committee members would be removed. He said the chairs of the audit committee and standards committee would see their allowances rise, and added: “The independent panel felt the Audit Committee should be on a par with the scrutiny committees.”

Labour leader Steve Foulkes said: “I believe it is very important we show the same discipline we expect from employees in the public sector.

“The Independent Panel recommended a higher increase, but we believe at a time of tight financial discipline it would be improper for us to accept this.

“We have also agreed to delete any special responsibility allowances for councillors sitting on the Licensing Panel.

“No councillor is allowed to receive more than one allowance, and the overall bill for allowances will remain within the current budget with no additional cost to taxpayers.”

But Lesley Rennie, deputy leader of the Conservative group, described the increases as “unbelievable” added: “These pay rises are clearly not performance-related.”

liammurphy