Powys councillors set for £1,105 pay rise

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Powys county councillors will all receive an inflation-busting 5.92% salary increase this year.

This equates to an extra £1,105 which will take the basic salary paid to all county councillors up from £18,666 to £19,771.

At the council’s annual meeting this Thursday, councillors will receive a report on the basic pay and expenses that “must” be paid by the council.

While the level of increase is set independently, councils are legally required to implement it and pay for it themselves.

Councils are not allowed to reject the recommendations by law, however individual councillors may give up all or part of the payment.

To do this, they need to give written notice to the chief finance officer (section 151 Officer – Jane Thomas) to say that they: “elect to forego any part of their entitlement to a salary, allowance or fee.”

The pay increases follow the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) agreeing the salary increases, expenses, and benefits for 2025/2026 when they met in February for the final time.

The IRPW’s decision came into force for all of Wales’s local authorities on April 1.

The report also explains that the IRPW was abolished on March 31 with its functions transferred to the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru (DBCC).

IRPW chair, Frances Duffy, said: “This has been a busy year for the panel, with the focus on compliance, engagement, fairness and research, whilst also preparing for the transfer of functions to DBCC.

“Since its inception, I believe that the panel has had a significant and beneficial influence on the value of elected members of local government in Wales at all levels.

“In particular, the panel has sought to ensure that remuneration issues do not act as a barrier to participation in local democracy.”

The report explains that increases will also be made to the salary of the leader, deputy leader and cabinet members on top of the basic rise.

The roles of scrutiny committee chairmen, and leader of the opposition also get a rise which sees the allocation on top of the basic salary become £9,986 which is up from £9,333 last year.

The salary for the role of scrutiny committee vice-chairmen is set at half that of the chairmen and goes up to £4,943 from last year’s £4,667 and is also paid on top of the basic salary.

In Wales, local authorities are placed in three bands based on population figures:

Band A – which pays more and includes councils with a population of over 200,000 people.

Band B – which includes Powys, is in the 100,000 to 200,000 population bracket.

Band C – which pays less, are those with a population of under 100,000 people.

The increases in Powys are:

Council leader – salary will go up to £66,727 an increase from £62,998.

Deputy leader – salary will go up to £46,709 an increase from £44,099.

Cabinet member – salary will go up to £40,036 an increase from £37,799.

Other roles with a senior salary – scrutiny committee chairmen, planning committee chairman, council chairman and leader of the opposition will all now receive £29,657, an increase from £27,999.

The deputy civic leader, and leaders of other political groups (with no less than 10% of council membership) and deputy committee chairmen can receive up to £23,726 and increase from £22,406.