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Councillors' allowances: The price of democracy in West Yorkshire
The job of a local authority councillor has changed massively over the last decade.
Once it was a part-time job but now it has become more of a full time profession, attracting allowances running to thousands of pounds.
Neil Hudson lifts the lid on councillors' allowances...
Ten years ago today, a new system of paying councillors was introduced, scrapping a system which had held sway for decades.
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Instead of being paid for each meeting they attended, councillors qualified for an annual allowance. In effect they were given a salary for being a councillor.
As the system becomes a decade old, the Yorkshire Evening Post has conducted an investigation into councillors' allowances, examining executive members across West Yorkshire's five local authorities.
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Our findings reveal that two councillors earn more than MPs, who receive a basic salary of 64,766.
The top earners are Kirklees Labour leader Coun Mehboob Khan, who receives 68,435 in allowances. Close behind is Bradford Tory Coun Margaret Eaton who qualifies for 66,992.94.
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Wakefield's Mark Burns-Williamson, who is not an executive councillor but receives an allowance for chairing West Yorkshire Police Authority, collects 55,083.32.
Leeds council leader Coun Keith Wakefield earns 53,040.76, while Bradford councillor Chris Greaves receives 50,042.94.
But while the pay of councillors has increased, their job has changed too. Councils now work very much like Parliament and, over the last ten years, the role of councillors has divided sharply between those who are executive or "cabinet" members and those who are outside that inner circle.
Increasingly, the role of an executive councillor has moved from a part-time job to a professional full-time occupation. Most executive councillors today would find it difficult to fulfil their council commitments and hold down another job.
Under the old system, most councillors were involved in some form of decision-making, now all key decisions are taken by just a handful of very powerful councillors.
Bradford Coun Chris Greaves said: "Now we have about 10 executive members and 80 mushrooms, who are basically councillors kept in the dark for most of the time."
Coun Greaves remembers the old committee-based system and said while it was open to abuse it nonetheless had some advantages.
He said: "Under the old system, some meetings were held just for the sake of it, or went on too long. People would end up talking about the colour of the moon. On the plus side, though, it meant councillors could work up areas of expertise and if a decision could not be reached, it went to full council."
The executive posts introduced ten years ago carry extra cash. Both the leader and deputy leader receive extra allowances and there are
numerous other jobs with special responsibility allowances, such as mayor, party leader or chief whip.
For example, Leeds Labour Coun Peter Gruen receives a basic allowance of 14,781.07 and a special responsibility allowance of 22,773.96 for being executive member for neighbourhoods and housing.
He is also chief whip, which also attracts a special responsibility allowance of 8,000, but he cannot claim this under the present rules because councils only allow one 'special responsibility' allowance per member.
Each council stipulates roughly how much time they expect councillors to work outside council meetings. In Kirklees, the figure is 80 hours a month. However, most councillors would say they work more than that.
Coun Kath Pinnock (Lib Dem, Cleckheaton, Kirklees) said: "The allowances system is better than the old committee system, where members were paid for attending meetings, even if you left after five minutes. Under the old system there was little or no recognition of your case work. The allowances system recognises that.
"Today I was up at 6am and have meetings until 5pm but most days I am working until about 8pm."
As well as being paid, many councillors do unpaid work, such as being a school governor or director of a charity. For example, Leeds Tory Coun Andrew Carter belongs to 21 bodies outside the council, while Wakefield Labour Coun David Dagger is affiliated to 36, for which both give up their time for free.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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