'Modest' increase to allowances for Adur and Worthing councillors supported

Members of both Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council supported a ‘modest increase’ to their allowances to be backdated to May.

A majority supported the increase during the Joint Audit and Governance Committee meeting on Tuesday (29 November) with a couple abstaining or voting against.

Councillors aren’t paid a salary. Instead they get a ‘basic allowance’ which is around £4,700 at ADC and £5,100 at WBC. Some expenses are also covered as well as a ‘special responsibility allowance’ for any extra duties such as chairing a committee or becoming a party leader.

Expenses cost ADC just over £212,500 between 2021 and 2022 and they cost WBC around £269,000.

In April, both councils agreed that any increase should be in line with staff pay rises. This recommendation came from independent advisers at the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel.

Staff received an average pay increase of 5.82 per cent for 2022-2023 and councillors were asked if they wanted to accept the same increase or the 2 per cent that had been budgeted for.

They supported the higher figure which will cost ADC £8,270 more than it budgeted and WBC £10,740 more.

This is subject to approval by both full councils which could choose different figures.

Gabe Crisp (Green, St Nicolas) called on councillors to ‘bear in mind the optics’ of increasing allowances during ‘a cost of living crisis’.

“There may be people here who are fine financially, who haven’t got a mortgage, who have a sufficient income,” she said.

“There may be other people here who are in a job which has seen a relative pay decrease, who might have had a substantial increase in their mortgage rate. For them, the councillor allowance is a substantial part of their household income, so the maximum increase may be vital.”

Tony Bellasis (Con, Cokeham) was ‘yet to hear of anybody looking for a decrease’ but Steve Waight (Con, Goring) pointed out that it is up to individual councillors whether or not to accept any or all of their allowances.

Charles James (Con, Durrington) supported the higher figure, calling it a ‘modest increase’.

“The budget for Worthing is just over £10,000 and that’s spread between 37 councillors, so we’re not actually talking about a huge amount of money,” he explained.