'Undervalued' Walsall councillors will not get significant pay rise

An independent panel had recommended that Walsall Council significantly increase the amount paid to senior councillors, while Labour and Lib Dem councillors called for the amount to be slashed.

However the Conservative-led authority voted to increase the allowances paid to the council leader, cabinet members and other senior councillors in line with changes to the amount paid to council staff.

It is the sixth year in a row that councillors have limited any increase to the same amount given to council officers, which has varied between zero, one and two per cent since 2014.

The decision came despite the independent panel saying that members holding the top posts were undervaluing themselves and receiving far less money than counterparts in equivalent authorities.

The three-man panel said the work of councillors had increased in recent years and warned that freezing or decreasing allowances would deter people from standing for election in future.

Moreover, the panel noted how allowances would need to have increased by more than 20 per cent since 2012 just to have kept pace with inflation.

But the panel added that members felt uncomfortable awarding themselves large rises in times of austerity, and noted the Labour and Liberal Democrats' desire for "members to feel the same pain as residents".

The parties' joint motion for a 20 per cent cut to special responsibility allowances was narrowly defeated when first put forward in July 2018 and defeated again at Monday's meeting.

Allowances

Special responsibility allowances are given to the council leader, deputy leader, cabinet members, regulatory committee chairs, scrutiny committee chairs and each group party leader.

The amount paid ranges from £4,644 for some committee chairs to £22,841 for council leader Mike Bird and comes on top of the £11,146 basic allowance received by all councillors.

The panel – made of up university professor Stephen Leach, independent local government consultant Richard Hood and and former Dudley Council director of resources Philip Tart – had put forward three options for increasing the special allowances in Walsall.

Professor Leach told councillors at the meeting: "Some of the really difficult decisions you have to make are which services to keep and which to run down, the panel really felt that there was a cause for increasing members' allowances.

"The real value of the allowances has dropped by about 20 per cent, therefore if you added 20 per cent you would be no better but no worse off than in 2010."

If the first option was implemented, special allowances would increase by 21 per cent to bring them up to their ‘real value’ since 2011 when cuts were introduced.

Under the second option, a package recommended by the panel in 2012 but cut in 2014 would be introduced, while the final option would see them bring Walsall up to the level of comparable authorities.

This would mean the special allowances for the council leader would go from the current £22,841 to either £27,409, £29,535 or £31,957 respectively.

The panel pointed out how the leader of Tameside Council receives £37,000, while executive members in Wigan receive £29,500

Council leader Councillor Mike Bird agreed that councillors are undervalued and told members his net pay is £1,700 a month.

He said: "There are those who say you should do it for nothing, but some people have to do it for a living."

Labour group leader Councillor Sean Coughlan said: "We are there to serve the people, it isn't about the money."