Plans to increase cabinet councillor allowances in Bolton by 76 per cent have been put on hold after the rise was deemed ‘too high’ by the council leader. An independent three-member panel appointed to look into councillors’ allowances had recommended the payment to the nine executive cabinet members be raised from £7,265 to £12,796 per year.
The independent remuneration panel put forward a report recommending changes to councillor allowances which was considered by the council’s constitutional panel on Wednesday.
The panel is made up of former director of children’s services at Bolton, Margaret Blenkinsop, Canon Dr Chris Bracegirdle, who is borough dean of Bolton, and Paul Howard, an NHS professional.
The remuneration panel report said that ‘there was substantial agreement’ that the special responsibility allowance (SRA) of £7,265 paid to executive cabinet members was too low. The report, said: “Benchmarking shows that the current SRA paid is by far the lowest across the GM councils. The mean paid across the GM Councils is £16,199, with a median figure of £16,004.”
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The panel recommended raising the executive cabinet allowance to £12,796. Other recommendations in the report included that the basic allowance paid to all 60 council members remain the same at £11,848. The allowance for the council leader was also recommended not to rise and stay at £31,989.
However, an additional separate allowance for the leader of £6,398 for duties on behalf of Bolton Council with Greater Manchester Combined Authority is recommended in the report. If ratified that would mean an overall remuneration package for the current leader, Labour’s Nick Peel, of £50,235 per year.
Other recommendations in the report include removing any allowance for the deputy chair of planning, an increase of £1,209 to £3,398 for chairs of scrutiny committees and a decrease of £1,611 to £4,833 of the deputy leader of the main opposition party, which is currently the Conservatives. The meeting heard that if the recommendations were agreed in full it would have a financial impact of around £36,700 per year.
The council has an option to choose to accept the recommendations either in full or in part, or to reject and continue with the current arrangements.
The increase in allowances would need to be met from reserves in this financial year and then built into the budget for future years.
Chairing the meeting, Coun Peel said the “The independent review is the most in depth analysis that I’ve ever seen on what councillors in Bolton actually do. The overall increase is £36,700 based on a cabinet of nine.
“My own feeling on this is that some of the rises are a bit too high. "I’m going to propose that we don’t accept this report as it stands.
“I want to take this back to the leaders’ meetings. My intention is to reduce the net increase. I don’t want to give a new figure out because I want it to be an open and frank discussion between us all. Our executive members are significantly the lowest paid in Greater Manchester but that does not mean we necessarily go with the increase that’s being recommended.”
Coun Peel’s proposal was passed meaning that after the meetings among party leaders, the planned changes in allowances will come before the full council, to be agreed in part of in full.
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