To think that £17k for being a local councillor is excessive?

[Sweetpotatoaddict]

I was curious to see what they were paid, and expected a small amount as its a role designed to fit with another job. It concerns me that it may encourage people to stand purely for the financial gain and not because of a desire to help. I'm curious to hear what other mnetters think. Or have I misinterpreted something somewhere?

Hmm. DH did four years as a Borough Councillor when he had political ambitions. We won't talk about the campaign to win the unwinnable seat.

It's peanuts compared to the effort involved and the phone calls "me taps dripping, I've phoned the council four times, you hos missis, what's he going to do about it". And the bins. And the dog shit. And the school places. And the racism on the estates. And the business rates. And the planning.

and it was 27ish years ago

fruit that does not happen in my experience ,- developers would not risk it. If you have evidence that it does report it to the standards committee of the relevant council.

A colleague of mine does this and he is definitely not paid that much and he does it alongside his f/t job.

Parish councillors don't get any allowances unless they are chairs. Borough councillors in most areas get expenses, and receive more if they chair a committee.

If you do the work properly, it is a full time job and then some. Considering doing it for the money is not a good idea at all. Our local borough councillors get £11k pa, and an extra £6k if they chair a committee, which will often mean meetings all over the country and meetings until very late at night.

The system is cheap. Making these positions proper "jobs", in my view, would discourage the right people from standing for office and attract career politicians, which are a total disaster.

And anyone can stand. Our local parish councillors range from people who run the local greasy spoon to a young man who works in community liaison (there's only one "wealthy" councillor). Our borough councillors are publicans, ex-NHS workers, former SATH mums, an ex-taxi driver, someone who works in IT support... it's a real mixed bag.

Anyone in a top job would not have the time or flexibility to do the work or attend the meetings. And if people are very wealthy, they can't really be bothered with the commitment.

You have to be very civic-minded, and willing to put the work in for very little in return.

The whole country is governed by goodwill. School governors, local government, PCCs etc., it has been the same for a very long time (1894 in lg terms).

Most do it to improve their local environment/give something back.

My experience is a bit different from retired middle class white males, a third are female, a third work - some in well paid jobs, others not so.

Some do lots, others don't. My county council's basic allowance is £9k, you would have to go some to get £17k out of them.

If my local councillor gets this then it's well deserved. He works tirelessly for the community, is one of the genuinely most caring people I've ever met and has the word "integrity" running through him like a stick of rock.

It's a full time job in our LA. It's terrible that is all they get. They have a vast responsibility. I can't see how you could expect anyone to work around the hours they have to put in.

The basic councillor salary locally is roughly £17k, thats before extras for being chair, vice chair etc.

Fewer on far higher wages - as full time positions - would be more effective.

Most parish councillors get no allowance at all.
Town councils often pay an allowance but its normally under £1000
District / Borough councillors get basic allowances of up to £10,000 and more for seniority and responsibility.
County / Unitary councillors get between £15,000 and £40,000
Multi hatted councillors can clock up a good living
but by golly they earn it.

Local government elected office is NOT something you go into for the money.

Do the councillors at unitary authorities get paid a sa district or County councillor?

Not really - it's not a job I'd want to do for 17k!

It's £11k for a run of the mill councillor round here but there are a few extra allowances and then bigger ones for more responsibility eg leader. chair of a scrutiny committee.

Another who thinks that local authority/council councillors should be paid as a full time job in the same way that MPs are. It would encourage more diversity in the people who put themselves forward to be responsible for governing our towns and cities. Councillors are making decisions relating to allocating budgets, local authority priorities, social care, education, planning, licensing etc. How to spend our council tax.

It's hugely time consuming and mostly pretty thankless. It can be very difficult to fit around another job if you are committed to doing it well - where I live committee meetings/council business etc. are held during the day and there's an endless number of community meetings in the evenings. Then surgeries, constituent issues, local campaigns etc. People stopping you in the street/supermarket/on the school run all the time. For the hours that can get put in it can barely be minimum wage and sometimes less.

Edinburgh city councillors earn just over £16k. It's got to be a full time job though - I mean, they run a capital city! Planning committee overseas a UNESCO world heritage site (badly many would say).
I don't think it's enough tbh. It ought to be a 30-40k job.

Where is that Bewty? And which tier?

I spent many years auditing the sector and have never seen a basic allowance that high.

I haven't seen many as high as most of the figures quoted on this thread actually.

I think that career politicians should work at the "coal face" of local politics before they are considered suitable for a parliamentary seat. They would understand local issues and meet local people who can be very demanding. Westminster politicians who have been special advisers just don't have the same background and training. There is nothing wrong with people wanting politics for a career but it is important that they are responsive to the public and have are able to bring experience to the job, whether it is of a local councillor, a doctor, teacher or lawyer. They should not just go to work at Westminster after a degree and sail through the selection procedures based on who they know.

County Councillors and District Councillors should be paid a certain amount depending on the seniority and importance of their role. Some younger people couldn't do it otherwise and many won't do it while they are building up a career. We need a wider variety of councillors and not just the white elderly men and women.

stealth
It depends on the council - some Unitaries are council sized, others are district sized

I've just looked up ours and it's about £11k ish for a basic councillor. I don't actually know what they do for that though, so I guess I can't really say whether it's good or not.

I wouldn't do that job for £17k a month.

Maaaaaybe for £17k a week.

Our local councillor is really active in the community so working last 1 you hardly ever saw they did their monthly surgery and grinned like a loon at election time. So 17k isn't a huge amount if they are working.

Its also rather a red herring when muck raking newspapers compare Officers' salaries with that of the Prime Minister.

Chief Exec's of a big county council are responsible for up to 50,000 employees and are expected to be experts.
Paying them £4 per employee per year does not seem outrageous to me.

The prime minister is equivalent to the elected leaders - very few of whom get paid more than £50k for the job despite it being totally full time.

Barchester, it's an Island council in Scotland, so I guess county council equivalent? But we have no town council. We do have community councils, but the community councillors are voluntary (and it's not nearly so much work)

The system is cheap. Making these positions proper "jobs", in my view, would discourage the right people from standing for office and attract career politicians, which are a total disaster.

My initial sentiment is the exact opposite. Career politicians will do it for free or very cheap as a stepping stone and/or for power, whereas there are good people who won't be able to afford to do it for below what they'd get paid if they were using the time for employment instead.

Whatever your politics though, I don't think that the Prime Minister's salary is that great. I wouldn't want to do it for £150k (even though that's about 8 times our yearly income).