Wolverhampton councillors agree to give themselves a pay rise
Councillors in Wolverhampton are giving themselves a pay rise – with the authority's leader set to see his annual salary boosted by £3,700.
The new scheme will see rises for the vast majority of authority's 60 councillors, with the basic allowance up by 17 per cent to £11,500 compared with the last published rates in 2020/21.
It comes as residents in the city have been hit with spiralling bills, including a council tax hike of almost five per cent.
The changes follow recommendations from an independent committee, with elected members in the city having traditionally received one of the lowest allowance rates in the region.
The top earner will continue to be the council leader, currently Labour's Ian Brookfield, who will see his special responsibility allowance increase by £2,000 (eight per cent).
With his basic allowance added on, Mr Brookfield stands to receive £38,500 from the public purse should he remain leader throughout 2022/23, up 10.7 per cent from 2020/21.
Under the new scheme, the special responsibility part of the salary of the council's deputy leader, currently Steve Simkins, will remain at £20,000, while cabinet members will continue to receive £15,000 on top of their basic allowance.
Meanwhile, the special responsibility allowance of the leader of the opposition, currently Conservative councillor Wendy Thompson, will fall by £3,000 to £12,000 a year.
The allowance for the deputy leader of the opposition, currently Simon Bennett, will more than double to £5,500.
The council is also set to follow recommendations over allowances for committee chairmanships, with some set to increase while others fall.
Both major parties are understood to have struggled to attract suitable candidates to stand for election due to the city's comparatively low allowances.
In Walsall councillors signed off on significant rises last year. The basic allowance in 2021/22 was £11,938, while the special allowance rate for council leader Mike Bird was £33,325, up more than £10,000 on the previous year.
On Dudley Council the basic allowance was £9,654 for 2020/21, with leader Patrick Harley receiving a special allowance of £22,854 on top, taking his annual council pay to £32,509.
