Councillors councillors accept pay rise due to cost-of-living
A report showed low pay was a barrier for people standing for election
Cornwall councillors have voted for a 4 percent rise in their basic pay after a report showed the cost-of-living and low pay was a barrier for people standing for election.
Cornwall councillors will see their allowance go up to £17,681.79 after they approved the recommendations of an independent panel. Councillors currently receive a basic allowance of £15,130.75 but will see that rise in May after today’s vote.
The recommendations from an independent panel also include increases for special responsibility allowances (SRAs) which are paid to those councillors with additional roles including the Leader, Cabinet members and those who chair committees.
James Mustoe, Cornwall Councillor for Mevagissey and St Austell Bay, spoke to us after the full meeting after the vote for a rise.
He said: "Now we've basically got a third more residents, a third more work and much longer hours basically. I think we can justify in the 4% increase which was what was voted for".
"Cost-of-living impacts everyone"
Under the new allowances the Leader will receive an SRA of £32,711.31 and the deputy leader £24,533.48. These are paid in addition to the basic allowance which is given to all 87 elected councillors.
Cabinet members will get an SRA of £22,897.92 which is the same rate as the Chairman of the council. All the allowances include a 25% reduction which is applied in recognition that councillors provide a public service and that some of their work should be voluntary.
Cllr Mustoe tells us the allowance increase will hopefully encourage younger generations to stand for elections in the future:
"Role of a councillor accessible to everyone"
"I do think there's an argument that councillors shouldn't have a vote on their increase at all. There's a significant argument, in order for Cornwall council to be representative of everyone in Cornwall, we need to make that role of a councillor accessible to everyone".
Mileage rates for councillors will also increase so that they are in line with those paid to council staff with it going up from 40p a mile to 45p a mile. The panel also recommended that councillors should be able to take paternity leave from their roles, similar to that allowed for council staff.
Kirsty Hickson, chair of the independent remuneration panel, told a meeting of full council today that their recommendations had been reached following extensive consultation with councillors including a survey and face to face meetings as well as a benchmarking exercise comparing Cornwall Council’s allowances with those paid by other local authorities.
She explained that a majority of local authorities looked at were considering raising their allowances by 4.04% and so this was used as the rate for Cornwall Council. The panel has recommended that allowances should be raised by 4.04% for 2022/23 and backdated to April 2022 and that they should increase by 4.04% for 2023/24.
Kirsty said that the panel considered the time spent by councillors on their work as a major part of their calculations and said that on average Cornwall councillors said they were working 35 hours a week. This had increased from 2017 when it was 31.5 hours and 2021 when it was 32.7 hours.
Cllr Paynter added: “We have to be mindful of the cost to the council and the ratepayer but mindful of the savings we have made in the reduction in members.”
The proposal to accept the recommendations of the independent remuneration panel in full was approved by the council.