Some York Councillors in line for pay bonanza

An independent pay review panel is recommending substantial pay increases for York Councillors.

Under the proposals, basic pay would rise from £9198 to £10,371 pa (13%). This element of pay has already seen rises in line with inflation each year since 2015.

In addition, major increases are lined up for those Councillors who are judged to have additional responsibilities. Their “SRAs” haven’t been increased since 2015 and have fallen behind inflation.

The Council Leader will receive £41,484 when his SRA is added to his basic pay.

The biggest (50%) increase in SRAs is reserved for the Chairs of the Scrutiny Management, Area Planning, Licensing and Audit Committees.

The proposed increases are revealed in a report to next weeks full Council meeting. The publication of the report was delayed until after voting in the General Election had concluded.

The plans would see taxpayers having to find £770,000 a year to fund the payments.

The proposals are bound to be controversial, not least because some of the evidence, submitted to the panel to justify the rises, doesn’t seem to stand up to scrutiny.

NB. Some Councillors may also receive other payments as a result of their membership of national, regional and sub regional bodies.