Chesterfield councillors to receive nearly 15per cent allowance increase despite facing £4m budget deficit

The Labour-controlled council voted at a Full Council meeting on December 13 to accept an Independent Remuneration Panel’s recommended Basic Allowance increase of 14.7per cent taking the annual allowance from £6,396 to £7,337.91 after it had been frozen for two years.

Remuneration Panel Chairperson Andy Watterson explained the final figure was calculated after considering the council’s previous two-year freeze on allowances and that the councillors were now deemed to be working harder particularly after the number of members had been reduced from 48 to 40.

But Liberal Democrat Opposition Group Leader, Cllr Paul Holmes, said: “How can we… when we are making cuts that are very damaging to some people… how can we say we deserve an allowance increase?”

Cllr Holmes had also previously told a Labour-led cabinet meeting on December 12 that he felt the panel report was a good one but he thought that the council should fully consider allowance increases in the current financial situation.

He said: “I do not see how the councillors should get an increase in the allowances when we are losing staff and cutting all sorts of services and closing things down.”

Cllr Holmes added: “In terms of basic allowances, they should be frozen just as they have been frozen for the last year or two already.”

The council has previously revealed an estimated budget shortfall forecast of £4m in 2024/25 which is expected to increase in future financial years with some tough decisions ahead.

The Remuneration Panel reviewed councillors’ Basic Allowances, Special Responsibility Allowances, Subsistence Allowances and the Mayoral Allowance and also considered travel, dependents’ carers allowances, and illness cover for committee chairpersons.

It recommended a final annual Basic Allowance of £7,337.91 for each councillor after considering the average wage in the borough, the council’s previous two-year freeze on allowances and their increased workload – from a benchmark 14 hours to 17 hours a week – as well as applying a public service discount percentage and comparing with other local authority allowances.

Even though the panel calculated an original Basic Allowance figure of £7,681.87 it felt this was inappropriate so it was reduced to the final figure of £7,337.91.

The panel also recommended that Special Responsibility Allowances for councillors with additional duties should receive a 5.6per cent increase and this would include chair and vice chairpersons of committees and scrutiny committees, but that the Mayoral Allowance remains at its current level.

It stated that the SRA for Chairs and Vice Chairs increases in line with the other SRAs and it recommended the introduction of a Vice Chair SRA for the Standards and Audit Committee, at an increased level similar to that of the other scrutiny committees which is £1,750.85.

The Dependent Carer’s Allowance for councillors caring for dependants while fulfilling their public service duties was recommended by the panel to increase to £15 per hour.

An SRA was also recommended to be extended to those councillors having to cover for any committee chairperson who may not be able to attend meetings over a long period due to illness.

Council Leader, Cllr Tricia Gilby, had told the cabinet meeting that the panel has recognised the council’s hard work and had acknowledged that it operates like a county council.

She said: “They recognise it’s like a county and punches above its weight and Chesterfield Borough Councillors at whatever level, whether backbenchers or cabinet members, work very hard and I am sure that was taken into consideration.”

Cllr Gilby added that nobody of any political party expects to stand for council to get rich because there is an expectation of sacrifice and public service duty.

Labour Cllr Jean Innes told the Full Council meeting her workload has nearly doubled and younger people have to be encouraged to become councillors and councillors have to be rightly compensated.

Fellow Labour Cllr Barry Dyke said that even though the payouts are called allowances he is taxed as having a second job and if young people are to be encouraged to become councillors they should not expect to lose a day’s pay.

However, Liberal Democrat Tom Snowdon said he was concerned that allowances would increase by nearly 15per cent and he agreed with Cllr Holmes that the council should freeze the allowances.

Cllr Holmes called for an amendment to allow councillors to vote for the Basic Allowances and the Special Responsibility Allowances to be frozen until 2024/25 in view of what he called ‘unprecedented cuts’.

Labour Cllr Judith Staton, Cabinet member for Governance, said: “Is Cllr Holmes suggesting that allowances be frozen for three years?

“We have heard from my colleagues the problems it will cause them and how difficult it is to have a job when allowances are not increased.”

The council voted against Cllr Holmes’s amendment which was defeated and it voted in favour of approving the panel’s recommendations to increase allowances which will come into effect from April 1, 2024, for the 2024/25 financial year.

Chesterfield Borough Council has stated, like many other local authorities nationwide, that it is facing serious funding gaps on its budgets and a rising demand on services due to the cost of living crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, exceptionally high inflation rates, rising costs, and uncertain Government funding.