Councillors in part of Cumbria are set to approve a £500 increase in their allowances.
Westmorland and Furness councillors are recommended by the independent renumeration panel to approve proposals to raise the basic allowance from £13,000 to £13,500 a year for council members.
A report said the basic allowance acted as a barrier to a broader and more diverse make-up of the council.
At a council meeting in April, the authority agreed for the panel to carry out a review into members’ basic allowances.
The panel then circulated a questionnaire to councillors, held focus groups for committee chairs and vice chairs and held two meetings for councillors.
A report issued by the panel after the review found members typically spent around 16 hours a week on work connected to their basic allowance.
It also revealed that when combined with responsibilities associated with being a chair of committee or group leader, the extent of members’ responsibilities and workload made it ‘very challenging’ for these councillors to also have a full-time job.
According to the report, committee chairs estimated that they spent up to 25 hours a week on committee business, with an average of around 10 hours a week.
The report added: “Travel to in-person meetings was highlighted as an issue in terms of time commitments, particularly for members in Eden and Barrow given the geographical footprint of the council.
“While the majority of members thought the basic allowance was about right for them given their particular personal circumstances, a common theme was that it was below the Living Wage and not sufficient to attract younger people to being a councillor, acting as a barrier to a broader and diverse make-up of the council.”
The total cost of the recommended increase in allowance is £49,000 a year. This will take the total budget for members’ allowances to £1.168 million this financial year.
It comes after councillors approved proposals to increase the allowance of cabinet members in April by £5,200 a year as the previous allowance did not properly reflect the commitments of the role.
In April the council increased the special responsibility allowance for cabinet members from £7,800 a year to £13,000 a year.
The council also raised the allowance of the council leader from £23,400 to £26,000 a year and the deputy leader’s allowance from £13,000 to £15,600 after recommendations from the Independent Remuneration Panel.
The panel was also supportive of the council adopting an index for the annual adjustment of allowances payable under the members’ allowances scheme.
The panel said it was of the view that an appropriate index would be applicable to council staff on a set pay structure, which in 2023/24 had equated to an annual increase of 3.88%.
Before recommending the increase, the panel carried out a survey on special responsibility allowances which was sent out to all members of the council.
According to a council report prepared for a meeting, 13 members responded to the survey and a theme was that the present special responsibility allowances for executive members did not adequately reflect the responsibilities and commitments of the role, as well as the travel time between meetings.
Panel chair Paul Jones previously said: “Our recommendations are based on what we think is fair and reasonable and what adequately reflects the commitment and time spent on council business by elected members.
“As part of our research a particular theme that emerged was that in some cases the extent of a cabinet member’s responsibilities and workload equated to the equivalent of a full-time job.
“As such we feel that these very reasonable increases for all members goes some way to reflect their commitment and hard work in support of their communities and the overall running of the council as a multi-million-pound business.”
Among reasons the panel used for guiding their recommendations for councillors’ allowances include the promotion of a healthy democracy by minimising ‘financial disadvantage’ as a barrier to standing for election as a councillor.
Another reason stated in the report was the maintenance of the ethic of voluntary public service given freely and the need to reflect this ethos within the basic allowance paid to all councillors, so that individuals did not stand for and remain on the council primarily for financial reasons.
The authority is set to consider the rise in the basic allowance for councillors at a full council meeting on July 11.
