Warwickshire county councillors urged ‘not to be embarrassed’ over £600 pay rise

THE deputy leader of Warwickshire County Council urged fellow councillors to “not be embarrassed” over accepting a backdated £600-per-year pay rise.

All county councillors will be eligible for the six per cent uplift, which will be backdated to May 17, 2022, to the basic allowance and it will also apply to additional pay for specific roles such as leader, cabinet positions and chairs of committees.

The matter came back up for discussion because of the nature of the county’s pay award for staff.

Instead of wages going up by a percentage across the board, all Warwickshire County Council staff are to receive a fixed rise of £1,925 pro rata, meaning the lowest paid will benefit from an increase of more than 10 per cent while those in better-paid positions take proportionately less.

That made it trickier to add to the money councillors receive for fulfilling their roles – with basic allowances set at a little more than £10,000, matching the staff pay award would have involved a huge jump.

In the end, the percentage was worked out in line with what the £1,925 increase meant for the median member of staff – the middle wage if all of the council’s salaries were listed in numerical order – something that the vast majority of councillors deemed fair.

The new basic allowance for all councillors is £10,679.50. The largest additional amount paid, which goes to the leader of council, increases to £26,749.10.

Councillor Peter Butlin (Con, Admirals & Cawston), the deputy leader of the council, said: “If you are a hard-working councillor, do not be embarrassed about being paid for your work.

“There is a whole principle coming back from the Labour movement, and from various other quarters, about a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and we work hard in what we do. I am not embarrassed about having a reasonable allowance.

“If I had to quantify it on a per-hour basis, you would actually find that nine times out of ten I would be under the minimum wage.

"It is about what you put into this job.

“We need diversity. That means the young, those who might not have the ability to take time off work. They are not rich or retired.

“I don’t want to see an old, grey-haired bunch of people in this chamber determining policy, we need diversity, that is why I am not embarrassed about allowances and why I am supporting this.

“We are not taking above-inflation (increases). We are all subject to inflation like everybody else so I have no problem with this whatsoever.”

Green group leader Councillor Jonathan Chilvers (Leamington Brunswick) said: “I think taking the average increase is a fair, proportionate and transparent way of working out what we as members should be paid, keeping track with our workforce’s median is the way to go.

“We need the brightest people to be able to feel they can manage financially when they are thinking of standing, at all ages."