Thanet councillors have voted to increase their allowance by a one-off 10% rise this year – backdated to May 4 – and for future years to index link to staff pay so the annual increase rate is the same for both.
The level of basic councillor allowance has been £4,570 per year – the lowest in Kent. The last increase was 4.8% in 2012/13 .
The 10% increase takes the basic allowance from £4,570 to £5,027 per year. This means an additional spend of £25,592 per year. The total cost of the basic rate for all 56 members is £281,512.
The vote also means increases to Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA’s) which are payments made to councillors with specific roles, such as Cabinet Members and Chairs and Vice-Chairs. Applying a 10% increase across all allowances and rounding them to the nearest £100 would result in additional expenditure of £11,427.
Council leader Rick Everitt requested the rises were back-dated to the beginning of the current term of office on May 4.
He also asked Democratic Services to index link an annual rise to the Members Allowances scheme so that it is the same as the increase that staff receive as their cost of living increase.
The move created some lively reactions during a council meeting last week with Cllr John Davis (Con) highlighting the rise for council bin men was 5.7%.
Thanet Conservatives leader Reece Pugh saying it was ‘regrettable’ there had been no cross party discussion as he would support the annual index link for allowance rates but would “never agree a one-off 10% increase.”
Cllr Barry Manners (Con) said “you can only spend a £1 once” and questioned whether residents would prefer it to be used cleaning up the coastline.
Cllr Bertie Braidwood (TIP) was not in favour of the rise although he said the allowance should be reviewed in the future. He added: “I am actually surprised that some people in this chamber think they do deserve a members allowance when a lot of the time they are receiving money for doing absolutely nothing.
“There are only a very small minority of people in this chamber that are probably averaging £1ph doing casework daytime, weekends and evenings.”
However, Cllr Helen Whitehead (Labour) said a rise was necessary to help the council be representative and inclusive by giving an opportunity to those with less finances or other constraints to still be able to take on the role. She highlighted how many councillors across the country were retired, male and aged over 60, adding: “We have to ensure as a council that we are representative of our population.”
Her view was echoed by councillors including Kristian Bright (Lab) and Cllr Tricia Austin (Green).
A vote approved the proposal. It will now go to the East Kent Joint Independent Remuneration Panel for recommendations. If recommendations are made these will be considered by Council at a future meeting. If no recommendations are received from the EKJIRP, the scheme will be passed to the council’s chief financial officer to enact.
‘Obscene increase’
A statement from the Thanet Conservative Group following the meeting says: “ At full council on 12th October, the Labour Group supported and voted through a motion to increase members allowances by 10%, costing £25,000.
“The Conservative Group strongly opposed this motion. It is an obscene increase at a time when council staff have received nowhere near this increase and could have gone towards much needed Council services.
“Councillors allowances should always be at the bottom of the list when it comes to funding and it is telling that only six months into a Labour administration that they have prioritised this.
It indicates a concerning set of priorities which fail to align with the needs and expectations of Thanet residents. Thanet residents deserve better.”
‘First increase since 2012’
However, council leader Rick Everitt responded by saying: “This is the first increase in Thanet councillor allowances since 2012, so it needs to be set against 11 years of staff pay increases, not just this year’s award. Over that period prices have risen by about a third and Thanet’s basic allowance of £12.50 per day had become easily the lowest in Kent and significantly below the average in similar authorities.
“The total cost of the increase for all councillors roughly equates to the average cost of one member of staff. Nobody in their right mind becomes a councillor for the money but we do find that people are deterred by the time it takes up and the consequent loss of potential earnings.
“It is vital that the council is able to recruit from all sections of the community, not just the wealthy and retired groups, if it is to represent the district as a whole and that councillors can afford to commit the time required for ward work as well as formal meetings and responsibilities once elected.”
