By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Civic chiefs have voted to give themselves a rise as a Gloucestershire leader is entitled to thousands of pounds less than a trade counter supervisor at Screwfix.
The contrast between Cotswold District Council’s (CDC) highest paid elected post and the trade tools store role was raised at a meeting on Wednesday (November 26) to highlight just how little the allowance is for councillors with special responsibilities at the authority.
Nick Craxton, chairman of the independent remuneration panel, presented their report at the council meeting in Cirencester.
Under the recommendations, the council leader would be entitled to a total allowance of £28,296.
The basic councillor allowance is £6,288 and the panel proposed that the special responsibility allowance for the top job be increased from three times the basic rate to 3.5 which would equate to £22,008.
The deputy leader role would also be increased from twice the basic allowance to 2.5 times more while cabinet roles would also be raised from 1.5 times the base rate to twice that amount.
Chair roles of overview and scrutiny and the audit and governance committee would also increase to 1.5 times the basic rate and from half the rate to the basic rate
“I would love to see leaders of councils be forced to take it on a full time position,” Mr Craxton said.
“However, I suspect you would want to be paying a hell of a lot more than is on the table here now.
“To put some context on that, I had a quick look on Indeed.com and noted that, in Cirencester, Screwfix currently have a trade counter supervisor role on about £4,000 a year more than the leader’s remuneration currently would be.
“And still £1,000 more than the increased amount.
“While that is an important role and all jobs are, I think it really puts some context on the accountability and scrutiny from this chamber and the wider public is a hell of a lot more for anyone here than whoever the poor person I’ve chosen to case study who becomes the lucky owner of the trade counter role at Screwfix.
“You will all smile the next time you go to pick up your bag of screws.”
Council leader Mike Evemy (LD, Siddington and Cerney Rural) thanked the panel for their work
He said it is always difficult for councillors to determine what the allowances should be for themselves.
“That’s never an easy decision to take but that is why we have an independent remuneration panel,” he said.
“They have looked at the cabinet roles and two of the chair roles and think actually they deserve to have a special responsibility allowance which is increased by a multiple of a half the basic [allowance].
“That is £3,144 more than is currently given for those roles. That recognises the work that goes into those roles.”
Cllr Evemy said the role often feels like a full time role but is probably not what he was paid in previous full time jobs.
“I wouldn’t expect that, and I don’t think those of us that go into local government service expect that,” he said.
Conservative group leader Tom Stowe (C, Campden and Vale) thanked the panel for their work but said the final decision on whether to adopt the recommendations was for councillors.
But he said his group could not support the increase special responsibility allowance for about a third of members was not warranted.
“It is clearly true there are some members who do go way above and beyond in their roles,” he said.
“In different circumstances it could be argued that they deserve increased remuneration to reflect that.
“However, we cannot support these recommendations as this council simply cannot afford it.
“These increases are modest on an individual basis however, the cumulative impact on CDC’s finances will be anything but modest.
“Having spent the last few years pleading poverty and slashing services, to then go and suddenly find an extra £36,000 per year of taxpayers’ money down the back of the sofa to splash on pay increases for one third of councillors is simply not a viable option for this council.”
The council voted to implement the recommendations.