Elected members of an NI local council have awarded themselves an annual pay rise for the second year in a row.
Councillors at Ards and North Down Borough Council agreed to give themselves a pay rise for their basic annual allowance, after a Stormont Department for Communities circular increasing the maximum basic and special responsibility allowances for local elected representatives.
DUP Alderman Stephen McIlveen at the Ards and North Down Corporate Services Committee this week proposed “noting” an item recommending approval of the revised scheme of allowances and paying all members for unclaimed special allowances in respect of the current financial year, with “no action to be taken”.
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He proposed the council approve the scheme of allowances for 2025-26, except in relation to the payments for chairing meetings, where they will continue with the current arrangements.
Alderman McIlveen was the only elected member in the chamber to talk on the allowance items on the agenda, and that was just to give brief proposals. There was no discussion or debate.
At no point in the two item’s duration did the Chair, any council officer or proposer mention the fact that council members' allowances would be going up. These details were given in the papers.
Ards and North Down councillors also approved an increase in the basic allowance last year, to the maximum set by DfC for the 2023/24 year. It this was the first increase they voted in four years.
In January this year councillors at Belfast City Council denied themselves a pay rise for the fourth year in a row, and agreed to give power over their wage to an “outside” body.
Elected representatives at a Belfast City Council committee meeting this week all agreed to a Sinn Féin proposal to give powers over their pay grade to a body within the council but not involving elected representatives. They also agreed to write to Stormont, where the legislation on councillor pay sits, to ask for a new independent body overseeing remuneration.
Consequently, after the decision at Ards and North Down Borough Council this week, the basic allowance for councillors has been increased from £17,030 to the new maximum of £17,456. The basic allowance includes an element for incidental and consumable costs incurred by councillors in their official capacity, worth an extra £1,229.
Councillors also voted to raise the dependent carer’s standard monthly allowance from £595 to £635, and specialist monthly allowance from £1,190 to £1,270.
A special responsibility allowance is also paid to those councillors carrying out responsibilities such as chairing committee meetings, while substantial extra allowances are given to the Mayor and deputy Mayor.
The Mayor’s extra allowance is £14,880, while for the Deputy Mayor it is £7,440.
The extra allowance for chairing committees can range from £2,250 for the Audit Committee to £5,110 for the Corporate Services Committee. Other allowances include memberships of certain committees and panels, Chair of the Policing and Community Safety Partnership, and dependents carer allowance.
Councillors at the Ards and North Down Corporate Services Committee voted to up their basic pay, but to keep the mayoral allowances and allowance scheme for chairing committees the same as last year.
There was no raise in mayoral allowances or chairing allowances recommended, but rather a slight reduction in the allowance recommended for the Corporate Services Committee Chair. Councillors did not agree to this.
The council said later: "The Department for Communities determines the schedule of allowances for councillors and issued an updated schedule in December that covers the period beginning 1 April 2024.
"The council’s Corporate Services Committee declined to implement the revised schedule from April 1 2024 and instead agreed to implement it from April 1 2025. However, this decision must be ratified at a full council meeting. If it is ratified, councillors’ allowances will rise from £17,030 to £17,456 per year from April 1 2025."
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