Coroner to see his salary double after pay review

THE salary of the coroner for Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire is doubling.

Mark Layton will receive £98,320 for a four-day week, funded on a 50/50 basis by the two county councils.

Additional costs, like national insurance contributions, will take the total layout to £128,995.

A report before Carmarthenshire Council’s executive board said Carmarthenshire currently contributed £32,880 to Mr Layton’s remuneration, including additional costs, and that Pembrokeshire contributed slightly less because it had fewer deaths to register and investigate. The new pay arrangements have been agreed nationally to address a wide disparity in coroners’ pay.

Carmar thenshire’s executive board has approved the new pay structure and also agreed to backdate Mr Layton’s new senior coroner salary to November 2017, as well as introducing new assistant coroner pay rates.

Under the new arrangements, Mr Layton will not receive additional “long inquest” payments, which form part of his salary now.

Addressing colleagues about the pay recommendations, council leader Emlyn Dole said: “Our hands, to be honest, are tied on this.”

Board members heard that Mr Layton had asked the councils to consider backdating the new salary to December 2015, when he requested a salary review. The report said he would deduct any long inquest payments going back to that time if his request was approved.

However, executive board member for resources, councillor David Jenkins, said Mr Layton would not waive long inquest payments for outstanding cases, which could amount to more than £9,000, if the salary was backdated to November 2017.

The executive board report said coroners could refer pay decisions to the Lord Chancellor if councils decided not to adopt the new framework.

It added: “Failing to address the disparity between existing local pay rates and the established national pay rates could invite plausible legal challenge.”