Northumberland council agrees to freeze ‘special responsibility’ payments made to councillors
Northumberland County Council has agreed to freeze payments made to councillors with additional responsibilities until the end of the current election cycle in 2029.
The basic allowance, paid to all councillors regardless of their position, will continue to be index linked in line with the annual salary increase for local government staff.
Special responsibility allowances (SRAs) are paid to councillors in key positions such as cabinet members, group leaders and scrutiny chairs. The highest SRA is £27,000 for the leader of the council. This is on top of the £18,888 basic allowance paid to all members.
An independent report on councillors’ pay did not recommend the freezing of SRAs, but councillors decided to impose this on themselves.
Council leader Glen Sanderson said: “The Conservative group would like to put forward the following – we extend our gratitude to the Independent Remuneration Panel for their work.
“The council agrees that the basic allowance will continue to be index-linked. All special responsibilities will be frozen for the duration of the council.”
Labour leader Coun Scott Dickinson seconded the motion. He said: “I agree that basic allowances should be index linked because I don’t think members should be setting their own amounts of money.
“I also think SRAs should be frozen, because there is a difficult time out there and we’re looking at changes with staff inside the council so I think that is the right move too.”
On basic allowance the report said that members were of the opinion that the basic allowance is “reasonable” with some new members even commenting that they had not expected to receive an allowance.
According to the panel, the basic allowance is ” intended to cover a range of incidental expenses incurred by members, including stationary, postage, printing, telephone calls etc; and to recognise the work spent on ward matters”.
It was noted that the basic allowance was “considerably higher” than comparable authorities and had risen by 18% in the last two financial years. However, the panel said they were “mindful” of the “geographical challenges” faced by Northumberland councillors, particularly those in rural areas.
The proposals were approved by a majority of members, with just one voting against.