Lancashire county councillors freeze allowances despite pay rise recommendation
It comes as the county council is searching for savings of more than £100m over the next two years
Lancashire county councillors have voted to freeze their allowances – in spite of an independent body saying they should be increased.
The ruling Reform UK group on the authority said it would be wrong for elected representatives to accept a rise for their roles when the county council is searching for savings of more than £100m over the next two years.
Their stance was backed by most opposition groups – although there was disquiet from some about the precedent the move could set.
Each year, an independent remuneration panel is tasked with recommending the level at which allowances are paid to councillors to compensate them for the time they spend on council business. The money is not classed as a salary.
Lancashire County Council’s current annual allowance bill stands at £1.78m.
Following a review after May’s local elections, the remuneration panel suggested a 3.2 percent increase in the basic rate given to all 84 county councillors, which would have taken the payment from £14,301 to £14,759. That increase – to have been backdated to the spring – would have been in line with the pay award agreed for most county council staff this year.
The panel also proposed uplifts in the so-called ‘special responsibility allowances’ (SRAs) paid to members – in addition to the basic amount – whose duties go beyond those of a backbencher. That includes committee chairs, cabinet members and the leader, whose SRA would have increased from £42,903 to £44,277 under the recommendations.
However, cabinet member for resources Ged Mirfin told a meeting of the full council that the Reform group had agreed to reject all of the proposed increases.
"incredibly straitened times"
“We face incredibly straitened times and there is a lot of pressure on us in order to make savings,” County Cllr Mirfin said.
He added that against that backdrop, there would be “an expectation from the general public” for councillors to show restraint.
Lancashire County Council leader Stephen Atkinson said that refusal of the allowance increases – together with a rejection of the proposed introduction of a £1,000 SRA for all opposition members, to be pooled and distributed as their group leaders saw fit – would save £115,000 “for the benefit of Lancashire residents”.
Cabinet member for education and skills Matthew Salter criticised what he characterised as councillors previously “insulating themselves” from any savings that needed to be made by supporting annual top-ups to their allowances – while acknowledging that he had been amongst that number as a former Conservative member on the authority for the last seven years.
“But when the people of Lancashire voted for Reform, they voted for change,” County Cllr Salter said.
“They voted for an end to business as usual, for an end to the establishment…looking after their own interests and shafting the public at every opportunity. Reform Lancashire are different.”
"vulnerable"
Leader of the Progressive Lancashire main opposition group Azhar Ali said that when there were no services that were not “vulnerable” to cuts in the months to come, it would be “unfair and unethical” for councillors to accept a boost to their allowances.
However, Liberal Democrat David Howarth said it was “a very sad day” when the authority decided to go against the recommendations of a group whose independence was intended to take the politics out of a controversial subject.
“They have no political axe to grind…no political agenda whatsoever. They look at the evidence that’s put before them and they come up with proposals that are fair and equitable,” County Cllr Howarth said, while stressing that he personally had always declined several allowances to which he was entitled, such as travel payments.
He also condemned Reform for not reducing the number of SRAs paid out to members. In total, 41 county councillors, almost half of the total, boast some form of special responsibility that attracts an additional allowance – with at least 23 of the posts being reserved solely for members of the ruling group.
As well as cabinet posts – remunerated at £23,597 – they include ‘lead members’, who assist cabinet portfolio holders in various policy areas, and ‘member champions’ whose work focuses on particular groups or issues, such as the needs of older people and armed forces veterans.
The remaining 18 SRAs include the chairs and deputy chairs of the county council’s committees, including those that scrutinise the county council’s policies, operation and performance While the chairmanships of scrutiny committees are open to members of any political group, they have, in recent years, been occupied by representatives of the ruling party.
Cllr Howarth said: “You haven’t changed anything the Tories used to do in the previous administration. You’re still lining your own pockets at the council taxpayers’ expense – just not as much as you might be able to if the remuneration panel recommendations were approved.”
The leader of the main opposition group and their deputy also get an SRA, as do the whips – the chief disciplinarians – of the ruling and official opposition groups.
Our West Lancashire member Adrian Owens said he was particularly “disappointed” in the latter and the fact that Reform had decided “to persist with paying allowances out of Lancashire taxpayers’ money to fund political posts”. That also includes an SRA for the secretary of the main opposition.
Meanwhile, Conservative group leader Aidy Riggott warned the Reform leadership that they might be wise “to be careful what you wish for”.
“If the administration is so keen to make sure we have value for money and not spend more money than we should on these things, there’s nothing to stop the cabinet from…not taking any allowances at all,” County Cllr Riggott said.
The allowance freeze was approved by 75 votes in favour, with three abstentions from the Liberal Democrats.