Ceredigion councillors have signed off on a pay rise that will see them earn an extra £1,000 per year from April at a time when residents will be hit with a council tax rise.

Late last year, a draft report suggested a move to taking the basic salary of all members to £19,771 despite the increasing pressure on councils that has seen residents hit with a near 10 per cent council tax increase in a bid to balance the books.

The basic pay of a county councillor in Ceredigion will now rise by 5.9 per cent and more than £1,000 a year from £18,666 to the new figure of £19,771 following councillors accepting the recommendations of the draft annual report from the Independent Remuneration Panel of Wales (IRPW).

The IPRW sets councillor pay each year, and suggested the more than £1,000 a year pay lift on the back of a rise of £1,000 last year and a 17 per cent hike in salary for all councillors the year before in a bid to bring councillor pay in line with average earnings in order to attract a wider range of candidates to fill the roles.

In Ceredigion, the council’s leader pay will rise £3,522 a year, bringing the pay for the role up to £63,020 from £59,498 last year.

The council’s leader role saw a £3,398 pay rise last year.

The deputy leader pay will rise by almost £2,500 a year to £44,114, while the salary for cabinet members will increase by a shade of over £2,100 a year to £37,812.

Committee chairs will receive a boost to £29,657, while the pay for the leader of the opposition on the council will also rise to the same amount.

Committee chairs and leader of the opposition will rise in line with Ceredigion to £29,657.

Leader Cllr Bryan Davies told members that the pay rises were “completely out of our hands” as the pay is set by an independent panel.

“We are going to be judged, I can guarantee that,” he said.

The plans for 2025/26, signed off by councillors, also include a “continuation of the current practice of not making payments for travelling expenses whilst undertaking Ward duties; “travelling, subsistence, overnight accommodation and car parking are paid at the levels proposed by the Independent Remuneration Panel”; and “continue with the opt-in monthly allowance scheme of a maximum of £10 to cover telephone, broadband and postage costs.”

The final recommendations of the IPRW were accepted by councillors unanimously at a full council meeting on 20 March.

IPRW Chair Frances Duffy said in the panel’s annual report that “the Panel believes fair and reasonable levels of remuneration are crucial to local democracy.”

“We therefore again agreed to continue to align levels of remuneration for elected members of Principal Councils, Corporate Joint Committees (CJCs), National Park and Fire and Rescue Authorities within the context of average Welsh earnings,” she said.