06 February 2004
Scottish local authority leaders this week defended a proposal that councillors should receive a basic annual salary of £25,000 – about half the amount paid to members of the Scottish Parliament.
The proposed rise, one of a number of options on pay put forward by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, would mean an increase for some councillors of around 250%, as the basic allowance is currently £7,000.
Cosla wants future pay for councillors to be linked to the salaries received by MSPs. It has given its views on remuneration in evidence to the Parliament's local government committee, which is considering the Local Governance (Scotland) Bill.
The Bill, which contains radical plans for the ending of the first-past-the-post voting system and the introduction of proportional representation, allows for the setting up of an independent national remuneration committee to review changes in the method of paying councillors.
It will consider introducing pension arrangements and a one-off severance scheme for councillors choosing to stand down at the next election, which is due to be held in 2007.
The first proposal for a substantial increase in the pay of councillors was put forward three years ago by a government-appointed committee headed by Richard Kerley, an academic. However, the latest proposal will be highly controversial, coming just before next week's announcement of an expected average council tax increase of about 4.5%.
Cosla president Pat Watters said he believed councillors should be paid at least half of the figure for MSPs, which is just under £50,000.
He argued that this would cost 0.2% of local government spending, equivalent to £22m. If the link were set at 75%, it would cost 0.3%. If it were restricted to 25%, the cost would be 0.1%.
Cosla claimed the case for a change to current arrangements was irrefutable and that a new system was an important priority. It argued there was a strong case to achieve 'parity of esteem' across democratically elected members of government.
A Cosla spokesman said the existing basic allowance was too low and that there was an imbalance between that and the special responsibility allowance.
He added: 'Our view is that there should be an increase in the basic salary for all councillors, with an additional element for those with significant additional or heavy responsibilities.'
The Scottish Federation of Small Businesses denounced the claim. 'I don't think within the business community there would be any support for this kind of rise,' said its spokesman.
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