An independent panel has sent a report to the council on what it thinks councillors should be paid for carrying out their duties.
The law requires all local authorities to appoint an independent remuneration panel (IRP) to advise on the terms and conditions of their scheme of councillors’ allowances.
The IRP report will now be debated by councillors at the Annual Council meeting on Thursday 16 May.
The last review of councillors’ allowances was undertaken by the IRP for the council in 2019.
At present all councillors receive a total basic allowance of £13,593 a year and the report is recommending this rises to £14,218, an increase of £625 per annum, or 4.6%.
The three-member panel is made up of independent people, appointed through a recruitment process who do not work for the council but who have a wide range of public sector knowledge and experience.
They say councillor allowances should not be an incentive or barrier to someone being a councillor.
The report states: “An important part of being a councillor is the desire to serve the public and, therefore, not all of what a councillor does should be remunerated. Part of a councillor’s time should be given voluntarily.
“The basic allowance should encourage people from a wide range of backgrounds and with a wide range of skills to serve as local councillors.
“Those who participate in and contribute to the democratic process should not suffer unreasonable financial disadvantage as a result of doing so.”
Councillors may also claim the cost of travel and subsistence expenses and for expenditure on the care of children or dependants whilst on approved councillor duties.
Some councillors – including the leader, deputy and committee chairs - also receive one special responsibility allowance (SRAs) for carrying out extra duties.
The panel has suggested different tiers for SRAs, ranging from the council leader to deputy mayor.
The panel recommends the council leader receives £36,967, the deputy leaders £17,559, Cabinet members £12,938, and the leader of the opposition and chair of the Licensing Committee £12,199.
Chairs of Overview and Scrutiny panels, the Mayor and Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board should each receive £11,090 each.
Cabinet Advisor Regional Partnerships & Economic Growth and the three roles of Cabinet Advisor (City-focused) should receive an allowance of £4,466.04 and £1,478.68 respectively.
The panel also recommends the leader of the largest opposition receives £12,199 and the leader of a minority political group receives £7,393 but the group should consist of at least 10% of total councillors, meaning at least five councillors.
The Chair of Audit and Standards is recommended to receive £5,758 and the Deputy Mayor £2,218.
The independent panel estimates the cost of the revised allowances will be £1.051m, a rise of £102,000 on the current cost of £949,000.
The new recommendations represent a 10.7% increase overall. The Panel took into account the fact that Member allowances were frozen in 2022/23 and 2023/24 and that over this period average staff pay increased by 12.7%.
Councillors will also debate how to make it easier for a wide range of people to stand for election as councillors, whatever their individual life circumstances.
A report to councillors will recommend they approve a Diversity Action Plan and an updated Parental, Carers and Special Leave Policy for Members as a key step to support the ambition that elected councillors reflect the diversity of the communities they represent.
The report follows the agreeing and signing of a declaration to become a Diverse Council at a council meeting on Thursday 20 July last year.