Moray Council agrees councillor pay rules after Scottish Government report
Moray’s Council Leader has received a £15,000 pay rise through new Scottish Government rules.
Councillor Kathleen Robertson (Forres, Conservative) will see her earnings grow by 40 per cent, from £35,580 to £50,063, as a result.
The rates of pay for councillors, council leaders and the chair of the Moray Integration Joint Board (MIJB) are set at Holyrood, and based on a report from an independent body.
Under the new rules, basic pay for councillors will also rise by 20 per cent from £21,345 to £25,982 per year.
Details of the changes were contained in a report agreed at a full meeting of Moray Council today.
Rates of pay for Scotland’s Council Leaders are decided by the size of each council.
Moray was previously a Band A council, the lowest pay scale for Scottish councils.
However, the latest government report abolished Band A and Moray Council was effectively promoted to the next level.
Along with a pay rise for Cllr Robertson, this also means that the council can appoint ten “senior councillors” who chair prominent committees.
Currently, Moray Council pays eight senior councillors £26,686 per year - with the council in charge of determining their salaries up to an overall cap.
At today’s meeting, the council voted 17 to five to give senior councillors and Civic Leader Councillor John Cowe (Heldon and Laich, Independent) a £5078 pay rise up to £31,764 and agreed to keep the same number.
However, this was less than half of the £11,000 maximum increase to allow another two senior councillors to be appointed in future, the meeting heard.
In total, pay rises will cost Moray Council up to £256,000 including National Insurance and pensions.
Councillor Scott Lawrence (Forres, SNP) supported the pay increases, arguing that current wages were an “extreme barrier” preventing people from standing as councillors.
While Councillor Jeremie Fernandes (Elgin City North, SNP) agreed, stating that increasing wages for councillors was important to making councils more representative.
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Councillor Sonya Warren (Buckie, SNP) said that the pay rises were necessary given that some had to take on second jobs, with some even forced to claim universal credit.
“That is a shocking state,” she added.
“I welcome the national independence review that has put it up, and I support your motion to give increased money to senior councillors because of the extra work that they do.”
Not all councillors were unanimous in backing the proposed changes, however.
Councillor Sandy Keith (Elgin City South, Labour) proposed slashing the number of senior councillor roles in half - from eight to four.
He said he supported the idea of removing all senior councillor allowances, apart from the Civic Leader, but suggested cutting the number as a compromise.
“My own view is that we should remove all senior councillor allowances, with the exception of the civic head,” Cllr Keith said.
“I don't think that they are justifiable in today's climate of restricted budgets.
“As the report says, they are discretionary, meaning that we don't need that number.
“I am a reasonable man, I'd like to think I am, and I would propose that we actually cut the numbers in half.
“If we're asking the public of Moray to stomach cuts to services and the jobs of our workforce, then councillors need to examine themselves too.”
Cllr Keith estimated that reducing the number of senior councillors would cut “about £60,000” from staffing costs.
However, before the Labour councillor’s motion was put up against the recommendations, it had to face down a more radical proposal from Councillor Neil McLennan (Buckie, Independent).
The independent, seconded by Councillor Draeyk van der Horn (Forres, Green), proposed getting rid of senior councillors entirely.
“At such austere times, we are proposing such grave cuts that we need to be shown to be leading from the front,” Cllr McLennan said.
“The quarter-million that has been discussed is a number of council workers' jobs.
“I would like to propose that the council agrees that payments reserved for senior councillors are forfeited completely and are used to fund projects for the good of Moray citizens.”
Cllr Keith defeated Cllr McLennan’s more radical option with five votes to two, and 18 abstentions.
The original recommendations in the report were proposed by Cllr Kathleen Robertson and seconded by Cllr Lawrence.
“It is always very awkward to be discussing this, but we do have a right to be transparent with the public to discuss what were the communities, so I think it is important to bring it forward,” Cllr Robertson said.
“I think it is also important to highlight that there are only a few councils that have moved up the band, which is actually what caused this discussion to come to Council to be debated.
“And it is from that that we need to discuss it and be transparent.
“I think it is also important to highlight and reiterate again that it is about encouraging people to stand in the future.”
Cllr Lawrence added: “This is not Moray councillors voting for Moray councillors to have a pay increase, this is a national thing.”
The original recommendations passed with 17 votes to five and two abstentions.
Cllr McLennan asked his dissent to be noted.
The eight senior councillors set to receive pay rises are:
• Councillor Scott Lawrence (Forres, SNP) - Audit and Scrutiny Committee chairperson and opposition group leader
• Councillor Bridget Mustard (Heldon and Laich, Conservative) - Corporate Committee chairperson
• Councillor Marc Macrae (Fochabers Lhanbryde, Conservative) - Economic Development and Infrastructure Services Committee chairperson
• Councillor Paul McBain (Forres, Conservative) - Licensing Committee chairperson
• Councillor Amber Dunbar (Elgin City North, Conservative) - Housing and Community Safety Committee chairperson
• Councillor David Gordon (Speyside Glenlivet, Conservative) - Planning and Regulatory Services Committee chairperson
• Councillor Peter Bloomfield (Elgin City North, Conservative) - Police and Fire Rescue Services Committee chairperson
Moray Integration Joint Board (MIJB) chairperson Councillor Elaine Kirby (Elgin City South, Conservative) will see also her pay increase from £26,686 to £28,207.
