Extra payments frozen
RISE IN ‘SPECIAL ALLOWANCES’ TO COUNCILLORS ABANDONED IN FAVOUR OF ‘ROOT AND BRANCH REVIEW’ OF WHOLE PAY SCHEME
EXTRA money paid to Kirklees councillors with senior roles is to be frozen pending a “root and branch review” of the whole pay scheme.
All 69 Kirklees councillors get a “basic allowance” for carrying out their ward duties, but members with extra or senior roles also get special responsibility allowances (SRAs) on top.
Those SRAs are now being frozen at 2020 levels following the annual meeting of the Members’ Allowances Independent Review Panel (MAIRP).
Last September councillors awarded themselves a 2.75% pay rise on their basic allowances, which is in line with that paid to officers on Kirklees Council. Approving the £375 rise took members’ allowances to £14,002 a year.
The vote took less than four minutes with all but one member voting for the increase.
At the time Clr Aleks Lukic, the Dewsbury Borough Independents
member for Dewsbury East, said the recommendations on pay made by the MAIRP were no longer relevant as they had been overtaken by events related to the coronavirus pandemic.
SRAs go to all the council’s political group leaders, deputy leaders, business managers, chairs of committees and members of the all-Labour decisionmaking Cabinet. No councillor receives more than one SRA.
In its report last December, the six-member MAIRP recommended that SRAs for 2021/22 should remain at the 2020 rate pending a root and branch review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme due to take place this summer.
It said any increase to SRAs as an outcome of the review will be backdated to April 1 2021.
Among its reasons for freezing the rate of SRAs was that councillors have been faced with “substantial change” in their working environment as a result of Covid-19.
It also agreed that the basic allowance be increased in line with the amount awarded to Kirklees Council officers as standard.
The panel’s recommendations - a majority decision - will be taken to a future meeting of full council for approval or rejection.
A minority on the panel said there should be no increase in either the basic allowance or SRAs. That recommendation could be revisited in the summer review “by which time the implications of Covid-19 for public sector spending are likely to be clearer”.
Council Leader Clr Shabir Pandor - £26,364
Deputy Leader Clr Peter McBride - £19,772
Members of Cabinet - £12,833 each
Conservative group leader Clr David Hall - £10,291
Lib Dem group leader Clr John Lawson £10,291
Independent group leader Clr Charles Greaves - £3,860
Green group leader Clr Andrew Cooper £3,860
Chair of Overview and Scrutiny, Clr Liz Smaje - £11,577
Business Manager (30+ councillors) £10,291
Business Manager (20-29 councillors) £7,719
Chairs of Planning Committees £6,432
Lead Members of Scrutiny Panels £6,432
Police and Crime Panel Members £6,288
Business Manager (7-19 councillors) £5,147
Chair of Licensing and Safety Committee £5,147
Place Partnership
Lead Members £5,147
Deputy Group Leader (12+ councillors) £3,860
Chair of Appeals panel £3,860
Chair of Corporate Governance and Audit Committee £2,572
Chair of Standards Committee £2,572
Business Manager
(3-6 councillors) £2,572
Adoption Panel member £1,285
Fostering Panel member £119 (day rate)