Councillors’ payments total nearly £1.3million

NEARLY £1.3m was paid to Cheshire East councillors in allowances and expenses over the past year, it has been revealed.

Figures published on the local authority’s website show councillors were paid a total £1,272,862 for the 2015/16 tax year, £530 less than the previous year.

Top of the list was former council leader Michael Jones, who claimed a £38,107.97.

This was a reduction on the previous year as he did not claim the full leader allowance for the year because he stood down in February 2016 and the payments run from April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016.

His payments were made up of the £11,443 basic allowance all 82 councillors get, £24,750 leadership allowance for the period he was head of the council, and £1,914 in travel expenses.

Deputy leader David Brown was second on the list of top payouts, receiving £30,155.

On top of his basic salary he picked up £16,300 special responsibility allowance (SRA) for being deputy leader and claimed £2,091 in travel expenses.

The remaining cabinet members with special responsibility allowances were next on the list of top allowances – apart from newcomers, like Coun Liz Durham, who only received a small portion of the SRA having only taken on the responsibility for children and families in February when former portfolio holder Rachel Bailey became leader.

Claims for travel expenses varied enormously.

Topping the list was Coun Rachel Bailey at £3,101. Coun George Walton claimed £2,629, Coun Paul Findlow, cabinet member for corporate policy and legal services, claimed £2,254 and Peter Groves, cabinet member for finance and assets, claimed £2,508.

Among the claimants were Brendan Murphy (Ind), who claimed £2,510 and Bill Livesley (Con), who claimed £747.

Both lost their seats in the May 2015 elections and the allowances ran from April 1, 2015.

Mr Murphy said although his travel expenses were in the 2015-16 list, most of the claim related to the previous year – and last year’s records do show he made no claim for travel expenses in 2014-15.

Mr Livesley said he was unable to comment on his £747 claim for five weeks as it was a long time ago and he did not have the information now as to what he had claimed for.

A total of 23 councillors also received payments for being directors of the council’s various companies.

These payments totalled £119,585.44 and are totally separate to, and in addition to, the £1,272,862 paid to councillors for allowances.

The details provided include more than 100 councillors because the figures cover an election year.

Only 82 councillors were in office at any one time.