Most councillor allowances frozen or cut - plan

An independent panel has recommended freezing or cutting the majority of allowances given to councillors in Wolverhampton this year, but with rises linked to staff pay in future years.

The panel compared current rates with those of other nearby councils and similar-sized local authorities.

The one allowance it recommended to increase this year was that of the authority's leader, from £32,322 to £33,500 - a rise of 3.6 per cent.

The panel called for basic, special responsibility and civic allowances to subsequently be increased each year, from May 2026 until April 2030, by any percentage increase in pay agreed for local government employees.

But the report recommended there should be no change in the coming year to the basic allowance received by all councillors, currently £13,767.

The panel said the figure was already the highest in the Black Country, but lower than in Birmingham and Coventry.

The group brought together to offer advice on the matter comprised a university lecturer, a bishop and a former Lord Lieutenant.

The recommendations will be considered by the Governance and Ethics Committee on 13 April, and are due to be decided by councillors at a meeting on 20 May.

Allowances for elected members of the authority are intended as a contribution towards councillors' time and expenses rather than a salary, given the role remains voluntary.

Despite recommending the increase to the leader's allowance, the panel suggested there ought to be no uplift for the authority's deputy leader allowance of £23,940.

There should be no increase for the leader or deputy leader of the main opposition group from £14,364 and £6,584 respectively, it concluded.

Some fees would even be cut, with the councillor chairing the scrutiny board getting £11,500, down from £11,970.

The same change is proposed for the chair of the audit and risk committee, the chair of the pensions committee and the chair of the governance and ethics committee.

Panel members called for the allowance given to the chair of planning committee be reduced to £12,000 from £13,167.

Other special allowances would be left unchanged.

The recommendation for future years of the scheme is that most of these allowances should be increased each year until 2030 "by any percentage increase in pay agreed for local government employees".

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