Liberal Democrats slam Chesterfield Borough Council’s move to increase councillor allowances amid £4m budget shortfall

At a full council meeting earlier this week, Labour-controlled Chesterfield Borough Council (CBC) voted to accept an Independent Remuneration Panel’s recommended Basic Allowance increase.

This means that councillor allowances will rise by 14.7 per cent, taking the annual allowance from £6,396 to £7,337.91 – after it had been frozen for two years.

Last month, CBC stated that it was facing serious funding gaps on its budgets – like many other local authorities nationwide – due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis and exceptionally high inflation rates.

The authority’s most recent forecast it has revealed an estimated budget shortfall of £4m in 2024/25 – which is predicted to increase in future financial years.

The council is looking at voluntary redundancies and voluntary retirement options for staff, while hoping to avoid the need for any compulsory redundancies. The delivery of some services may be stopped altogether and others may face reductions.

Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader, Councillor Paul Holmes, proposed an amendment to the allowance increase. The Liberal Democrat proposal was that any rise – which would add £47,000 to CBC’s overspend – should be frozen for 2024/25 while £4m of cuts were being made.

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The Liberal Democrat group added that they wanted the freeze to be considered again in 2025/6 when another £2m or more had to be cut – a proposal that Labour councillors voted against.

Councillor Paul Holmes said: “I just cannot understand how the Labour councillors can even consider increasing councillor allowances when they are in the process of removing up to 50 council jobs, closing down services like the Visitors Centre and Revolution House and hiking up fees for everything – including making residents pay twice to have their bins emptied by introducing an extra green bin charge.”

“If they have to save £6m by 2025, how can they be willing to actually increase the council overspending by upping their own allowances? How will they look council staff in the face when they remove their jobs? How will they face themselves in the mirror this Christmas?”

Chesterfield Borough Council has a legal duty to review its’ Members’ Allowances Scheme on a regular basis. The review traditionally takes place every four years and is informed by the work of an Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP), specifically appointed to fulfil the task. The Council also has a legal duty to have regard to the Panel’s recommendations.

Councillor Judy Staton, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for governance, said: “We need to strike the right balance between remunerating councillors at levels that attract candidates of all ages and backgrounds to represent the interests of their communities, whilst at the same time recognising the scale and nature of the financial challenges that the Council currently faces.

“The IRP has considered a range of factors in arriving at its recommendations, including benchmarking data on the levels of allowances paid at other councils, the scale and nature of the services provided by the Council, which are greater than at many other district councils, and the fact that members’ allowances at the Council have been frozen for the last two financial years.

“The IRP has also recognised that the Council has implemented changes in the past twelve months to its decision-making structures following a Local Government Boundary Review. This has seen the number of councillors reduce from 48 to 40, which has increased councillor workloads and responsibilities at a time when the Council is experiencing unprecedented demand for its services.

“The costs of funding the members’ allowances scheme will be less in 2024/25 than those incurred in 2022/23.

“At last week’s Council meeting, the majority administration felt it the right thing to do to accept the IRP’s recommendations. It is important that the allowances that councillors receive fairly recognise the service and time all give in the performance of their duties and are also set at levels that encourage more people to consider standing for election in future.”