Councillors Salary
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Posts
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Have our councillors earned a 16.9% pay rise ? Our NHS nurses have had to fight for a 3% rise , an increase of 16.9% in comparison for councillors is excessive. They will hide behind the usual we haven’t suggested this is been recommended by an outside body but they can refuse it either individually or as a group. When you look at remuneration of councillors across the UK , there are many councils who receive substantially less than our councillors presently receive. On previous form they will accept the rise, and then proceed to plead no money for basic services and raise Council Tax above inflation.
I believe the percentage increases are excessive. If any Councillor is in receipt of the OAP allowance, then the maximum remuneration to that recipient should be capped at £5k.
Will it hit their Universal Credit? Some of them are struggling after they took the extra £20 off them.
As predicted “we don’t have the power to refuse it “ ( the 16.9% increase) and still pointing to the fact it’s designed to attract new Councillors from poorer backgrounds. The reality is they could all agree not to take the increase. Do they have any understanding of the difficulties many families and businesses are facing in the current economic situation , remember we will all be paying towards their salary increase via out rates bill. What will you be cutting back on in order to pay your increased bills?
As predicted, “WE DON’T HAVE THE POWER TO REFUSE IT.”
I don’t believe this to be the case. It is in Wrexham Councillor’s own hands if they so wish.
I challenge Wrexham Councillors to not accept payment for meetings they do not attend when expected to do so. £1000, reduction per meeting not attended when expected to do so.
From this January to the beginning of November, there were around 166 meetings not attended by Councillors when they were expected to do so. Given this,£166k would be recovered from the initial outlay of £169k.
So Councillors, show some bottle before you seek re-election next May. Cut the Council Tax rise that these increases in salary will create. Better to try to be loved than not loved at all.
Don’t worry, no services will be cut as a result of this!
Council tax will just be increased again – as this is a much easier option.
A 17%, sorry, 16.9% pay rise is taking the michael. The independent remuneration panel for Wales say they acknowledge that there has been a slippage over the past 12 years, and so this justifies the huge pay rise now. Twelve years? What have they been doing then, it is supposed to base the annual increase on the average Welsh earnings? How much of a percentage pay rise have Councillors been awarded each year over the past 12 years, which should then be added to the 16.9% to give the true 12-year rolling percentage figure? They had 1.49% last year, and 1.97% the year before that. Will that then equate to the average Welsh earnings since the global financial crash? I don’t think so. How much rise do they think all those front-line workers in the public sector have ‘enjoyed’ over the past 12 years. Many have had pay rises frozen in recent years. A pay reduction in real terms. We have our health care workers, who have gone through hell the last two years in particular, and are still at full stretch. NHS nurses, who we have all been applauding so laudably, have had to fight tooth and nail to get a 3% rise this year, others are having to wait to see what they get. Businesses have suffered badly, the hospitality sector in particular, with some going to the wall. Many have had to diversify and innovate just to keep their heads above water. Would you have wanted to be a taxi driver over the past two years? Meanwhile, our Councillors get 16.9% for doing nothing extra, which the rest of us, with our measly, or non-existent pay rises, will have to pay for in a rise in next year’s Council Tax, which has just gone up 7%, sorry, 6.95%. If we moan about that too much, you will hear the response that the only alternative is to cut services. You won’t want that, so you stump up and shut up.
And then they claim mileage and subsistence allowances for the meetings they attend. Which is fine, but what peeves me here are those few Councillors who turn up late to said meetings, sit down, do not contribute to proceedings in any way, then get up and leave a short time later. They are marked down as having attended, get paid their allowances accordingly and their constituents think they are doing a sterling job busily representing their interests based on the high number of diverse meetings they have ‘attended’. I don’t know what other payment they may receive for rocking up at meetings like this, or maybe for not attending at all: it would depress me to find out. Of course, as has been pointed out, they could always opt for a reduced rise, but in all honesty, would you?
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