SNP Ministers Fear Public Backlash
The Times reports that Scottish ministers fear a big public backlash over their plans to bring eye watering pay rises for local councillors.
Scotland's councillors are the best paid in the UK, but a bumper 22% pay increase is on the cards - at a time when the Scottish government and local councils face major cuts in services while imposing higher charges.
For good reason SNP ministers fear the message being sent to council tax payers is - Pay More, Get Less!
Read the Times report below.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/snp-ministers-fear-public-backlash-over-pay-rise-for-councillors-8g6bmwpq0
Ministers fear public backlash over 22% pay rise for councillors
An independent report says the leader of Glasgow council should be paid £67,662, the same as an MSP - photo Alamy
The leader of Edinburgh council would receive the same
By John Boothman - The Times
SNP ministers fear a public backlash if they fund a promised pay rise for councillors that would result in leaders of the biggest local authorities being paid the same as MSPs.
Officials say they are concerned about the “optics” of a 22 per cent wage increase for local politicians recommended by an independent review.
Councillors are paid just over £20,000 a year, well below the national average salary of £27,000. The Scottish local authority remuneration committee (Slarc) earlier this year recommended that their wages rise to about £24,500.
The increase would cost £5 million but local and national governments are arguing over who, at a time of tough budget constraints, should foot that bill.
“Everyone accepts, across the parties, that given the nature of the job, councillors do not get paid enough,” one local authority leader said.
“The government commissioned this independent review, carried out by a former council chief executive, and it accepted its conclusions. That it is now calling into question whether they will fund it is just beyond belief.”
The council leader said the expectation was that the Scottish government would fund the package.
• Ministers to consider increasing pay for councillors
However, a government source said ministers had to consider how such a decision would be viewed by the public. “Given the current economic climate and anticipated government cuts and the controversies surrounding what politicians claim, we need to think carefully about who pays for this,” the source said.
Slarc made its recommendations on wages in February, saying a rise was needed to attract a diverse range of councillors. Presently men and older people predominate and women, young people and those with disabilities are under-represented. The committee also recommended that senior councillors should receive more money.
The report said the leaders of Scotland’s two biggest councils, Glasgow and Edinburgh, should receive the same salaries as MSPs, rising from £60,304 this year to £67,662 next year.
Council leaders in the next six biggest councils, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Fife, Highland, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire, would have an increase in salary from £46,902 to £57,513, a rise of 18.4 per cent. For the leaders in all 24 other councils, the pay should go up to £47,363.
Under the proposals, the leaders on Scotland’s ten smallest councils, Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Western Isles, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and Stirling, will have increases from £33,503 to £47,365, a rise of 29 per cent.
The package includes a proposal for an exit payment for councillors should they lose in an election and creating service units in councils to support the work of councillors.
In a letter to Cosla, the umbrella group for local authorities, earlier in October the finance secretary Shona Robison said the matter would be considered as part of the annual budget negotiations between the government and councils.
She said: “During my evidence, I made clear that cross-local government support for the implementation of the Slarc recommendations is required for me to consider funding as part of budget and settlement discussions with local government.”
• Public sector pay hikes will lead to ‘difficult decisions’ ahead
The government and councils are at loggerheads over several other issues. Cosla has withdrawn from talks over the budget for the SNP’s flagship national care service.
The government is withholding a grant of £145 million designed to increase teacher numbers. Kate Forbes, the deputy first minister, said the money would be released only if local authorities showed they were adding more staff. Cosla opposes such ring-fencing.
SNP ministers fear a public backlash if they fund a promised pay rise for councillors that would result in leaders of the biggest local authorities being paid the same as MSPs.
Officials say they are concerned about the “optics” of a 22 per cent wage increase for local politicians recommended by an independent review.
Councillors are paid just over £20,000 a year, well below the national average salary of £27,000. The Scottish local authority remuneration committee (Slarc) earlier this year recommended that their wages rise to about £24,500.
The increase would cost £5 million but local and national governments are arguing over who, at a time of tough budget constraints, should foot that bill.
“Everyone accepts, across the parties, that given the nature of the job, councillors do not get paid enough,” one local authority leader said.
“The government commissioned this independent review, carried out by a former council chief executive, and it accepted its conclusions. That it is now calling into question whether they will fund it is just beyond belief.”
The council leader said the expectation was that the Scottish government would fund the package.
• Ministers to consider increasing pay for councillors
However, a government source said ministers had to consider how such a decision would be viewed by the public. “Given the current economic climate and anticipated government cuts and the controversies surrounding what politicians claim, we need to think carefully about who pays for this,” the source said.
Slarc made its recommendations on wages in February, saying a rise was needed to attract a diverse range of councillors. Presently men and older people predominate and women, young people and those with disabilities are under-represented. The committee also recommended that senior councillors should receive more money.
The report said the leaders of Scotland’s two biggest councils, Glasgow and Edinburgh, should receive the same salaries as MSPs, rising from £60,304 this year to £67,662 next year.
Council leaders in the next six biggest councils, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Fife, Highland, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire, would have an increase in salary from £46,902 to £57,513, a rise of 18.4 per cent. For the leaders in all 24 other councils, the pay should go up to £47,363.
Under the proposals, the leaders on Scotland’s ten smallest councils, Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Western Isles, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and Stirling, will have increases from £33,503 to £47,365, a rise of 29 per cent.
The package includes a proposal for an exit payment for councillors should they lose in an election and creating service units in councils to support the work of councillors.
In a letter to Cosla, the umbrella group for local authorities, earlier in October the finance secretary Shona Robison said the matter would be considered as part of the annual budget negotiations between the government and councils.
She said: “During my evidence, I made clear that cross-local government support for the implementation of the Slarc recommendations is required for me to consider funding as part of budget and settlement discussions with local government.”
• Public sector pay hikes will lead to ‘difficult decisions’ ahead
The government and councils are at loggerheads over several other issues. Cosla has withdrawn from talks over the budget for the SNP’s flagship national care service.
The government is withholding a grant of £145 million designed to increase teacher numbers. Kate Forbes, the deputy first minister, said the money would be released only if local authorities showed they were adding more staff. Cosla opposes such ring-fencing.
