Decision on councillors’ pay rise deferred

A potential pay rise for Shropshire councillors has been pushed back until after the local elections in May.

With just over two months to go until the end of the current council term, members agreed it would be best to let the new council vote on any changes to allowances later in the year.

A report presented at a full council meeting on Thursday proposed increasing the basic allowance for all councillors from £11,514 to £12,000, with larger pay rises for the council leader, deputy leader and some committee chairmen.

The report was prepared by an independent remuneration panel based on representations from the council’s chief executive Andy Begley, leader Peter Nutting and other members.

Speaking at Thursday’s meeting, Councillor Nutting said: “I want to start by giving my thanks to the panel for their detailed consideration and for producing the report.

“However, I think it inappropriate that at this time, in the last weeks of a council, that we make a decision on this.

“I believe this is a decision that should be taken by the new council after the election.

“I would like to move that we defer consideration of this report until the next full council meeting and that the current schedule of allowances remains in place until then.”

It comes after the previous panel quit in February 2018 when its recommendations were thrown out after being criticised by Councillor Nutting.

The council struggled to fill positions on a new panel until Stephen Donkersley, Richard Garnett and Tim Griffiths were appointed in September 2019.

Councillor Roger Evans, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group said: “I am disappointed to hear that the leader of the council is once again kicking an independent report into touch and not accepting the recommendations.

“The previous panel resigned because of the refusal by the Conservative group to accept their recommendations.

“I want to vote in support of the work that the independent panel carried out.

“There is nothing preventing any future council revisiting it and looking at it again.”

Members voted to defer the report to the next meeting by 45 votes to 15, with three abstentions.

The report proposed increasing the council leader’s additional allowance multiplier – which decides how much more different roles receive – from two to 2.25, taking the leader’s total pay from £34,542 to £39,000.

The deputy leader’s multiplier was proposed to increase from 1.25 to 1.5, representing a rise in total pay from £25,907 to £30,000.

But not all roles would see an increase – with the extra allowance for the council chairman, speaker, and deputy portfolio holders to be cut.

The report also proposed increasing the allowance councillors can claim to cover the cost of paying for care of a dependant child or adult while carrying out council business, to attract “younger and more diverse” candidates to seek election.