Doncaster councillors reject motion to debate their own pay allowances

Last week, councillors rejected a motion put forward by Coun Steve Cox to debate and vote on their own members’ allowances.

The motion was put forward as: “In future any changes, including increases to the members’ allowance, should be debated as a separate and stand-alone agenda item as part of the budget.”

Councillors do not get paid a salary but earn an allowance to cover expenses associated with their roles.

Rises in allowance are currently passed by the Independent Renumeration Board who calculate a figure each year based on inflation and rising living costs.

Last year, an annual uplift was decided which set a figure for allowances to raise each year until 2026.

Coun Cox proposed that this figure would be scrapped and councillors would instead vote each year during the budget.

The motion was seconded by Coun Nick Allen who further proposed that a list of councillors who rejected pay rises could be published online.

Coun Phil Cole opposed the motion and urged councillors to do the same.

He said: “Conservatives are proposing a return to bad practice. One where councillors directly discuss and vote on the changes to their own allowances.

“This is not recommended nationally and is certainly not done within the House of Commons, for example, which abolished the practice a number of years ago.”

Ten councillors voted for the motion, 35 voted against and five abstained.