Councillors set to vote for allowance increase in line with inflation

An independent panel has recommended that district councillors receive the pay rise during the current financial year.

The proposals come after councillors voted to freeze allowances during the 2024/25 financial year as residents across the district continued to struggle with cost of living pressures.

The Labour-run authority, like many councils across the country, is also facing mounting financial pressures.

Elected councillors are allowed to claim basic allowances and expenses in line with recommendations by an independent remuneration panel (IRP).

Panel members have recommended that the basic allowance be increased from £13,906 to £14,142, in line with the consumer price index (CPI).

A report said: “The panel noted that council had agreed to freeze members’ allowances for 2024/25 but believed a proportionate annual uplift was a fair and reasonable approach to take.

“It will provide an increase at an appropriate rate and prevent the need for periodic catch-up sums which are more difficult to agree on.

“The basic allowance in Wakefield has been operating successfully for some years and has been aligned to increases in the nationally agreed pay scales for local authority employees.”

Wakefield pays the third-highest amount to councillors out of the five West Yorkshire local authorities.

Leeds pays the highest (£17,902) and Calderdale the lowest (£10,744).

The panel has also recommended that most councillors with a special responsibility also receive a further pay increase in line with CPI.

They include council leader Denise Jeffery, who currently receives £42,430, deputy leader Jack Hemingway (£22,195), cabinet members (£16,953) and most committee chairs.

The proposals include increasing the amount paid to the audit committee chair to £11,333 from £7,351 “in recognition of its enhanced role.”

The report recommends reducing the amount paid to opposition leader Nadeem Ahmed to £4,211 from £8,423.

Coun Ahmed’s Conservative and Independent Group currently has just three councillors.

The report said: “This allowance was set during a time when the opposition group was significantly larger and, whilst the panel recognises this position may change in the future, felt it was appropriate that the allowance reflect the size of the group.”

Just under £1.3m was paid to the council’s 63 elected members during the 2023/24 financial year, according to figures published on the authority’s website.

If councillors vote in favour of the recommendation, the total cost to the tax payer would be an extra a £26,827 a year.

Councillors’ allowance are expected to be reviewed again after next year’s ‘all out’ local elections, when all seats in Wakefield will be contested.

A review of allowances was previously carried out in 2021 when the panel recommended that elected members give themselves a 2.75% increase.

Councillors from all three major parties unanimously voted against the proposed increase, a move which saved the local authority around £32,000.