Councillor pay is set to rise again by more than £1,000 per year from next April, with a draft report suggesting a move to taking the basic salary of all members to £19,771 despite the increasing pressure on councils to cut services and raise council tax in a bid to balance the books.
The basic pay of a county councillor in Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd will rise by 5.9 per cent and more than £1,000 a year from £18,666 to the new figure of £19,771 from 31 March 2025 if the recommendations of the draft annual report from the Independent Remuneration Panel of Wales (IRPW) are accepted following a consultation.
The IPRW sets councillor pay each year, and suggest the more than £1,000 a year pay lift for next year 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 is line for a £3,522 a year pay rise, 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.
In Gwynedd and Powys, the leaders of those councils will get £66,727 a year as larger authorities, an increase of more than £3,700 from £62,998 last year.
Deputy leaders in Gwynedd and Powys will see a pay rise of £2,700 to £46,709 a year with cabinet members taking home £40,036.
Committee chairs and leader of the opposition will rise in line with Ceredigion to £29,657.
IRPW chairwoman Frances Duffy said: “The Panel believes fair and reasonable levels of remuneration are crucial to local democracy.”
The proposals will now be consulted and before a final report is issued in February next year.