Councillor could get bonus of £2,333 for extra work

A councillor who chairs an influential Powys County Council committee could receive a bonus payment of three months' senior salary, which would equate to £2,333.

At a meeting of the council’s Democratic Services Committee on Monday, councillors received a response from the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) regarding whether a one-off payment could be granted to Cllr Lucy Roberts (Conservative) in her role as chairwoman of the Employment and Appeals Committee. This is because Cllr Roberts' committee has met far more than usual this year.

This was due to the need to sift through and interview candidates for senior roles at the council.

New chief executive Emma Palmer had been re-jigging and expanding the number of senior roles at the council.

In light of the heavier workload the committee had asked for a review of the senior salary for this role and in September had asked the IRPW for advice on being allowed to award one off ad-hoc payments.

The committee had been told that the council is allowed to pay one more senior salary worth £9,333.

This is on top of the basic councillors salary of £18,666 for this year.

Head of business intelligence and governance, Catherine James told councillors that the IRPW had said that their “framework” did not include provision for one off payments.

Ms James said: “However, a payment for a fixed period could be provided, the IRPW emphasised that it is not their responsibility to advise on such matters.”

Cllr Glyn Preston (Liberal Democrat) said: “Are you saying we could allocate a senior salary for two months in lieu of the additional workload she had for that time.”

Ms James agreed and explained that he committee’s increased workload had occurred during a “two to three month” period at the start of the financial year.

Cllr Preston said: “I would be perfectly comfortable to allocate that senior salary for three months, it seems reasonable to me given the additional workload.”

Plaid Cymru group leader, Cllr Elwyn Vaughan supported the recommendation.

Committee chairman Cllr Graham Breeze (Powys Independents) said: “There’s no question it was a particularly busy time, but things have now settled down to normality.”

The committee went to a vote and unanimously agreed the three month senior salary payment.

The committee’s recommendation will now go in front of all councillors at a future council meeting.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy reporting Service