Council committee chair could be in line for £9,000 pay boost

Powys County Council's democratic services committee will consider if Conservative Lucy Roberts ought to be paid a "senior" uplift, boosting her councillor salary to £28,000.

Councillor Roberts is the authority's employment and appeals committee chair, a role which includes interviewing candidates for director and head of service positions.

A report reviewing whether a senior salary should be paid to Councillor Roberts will be discussed by members at a meeting on Monday, September 2.

The issue was raised by the democratic services committee back in January.

Currently four "senior" salaries for committee chairs are paid by the council.

This is £9,333 which is paid on top of the basic councillor's salary, which is £18,666 a year.

The council is allowed to allocate one more senior salary.

The report which will be considered includes information on the number of meetings that the employment committee, which Councillor Roberts chairs, has held between May 26, 2022, and August 31, 2024, and compares it to the workload of other committees where the chair is paid a senior salary.

During this 26-month period, the employment committee and its sub-committees met a total of 20 times.

In comparison, the economy residents and communities scrutiny held 72 meetings in public and private when the presence of the chairwoman, Liberal Democrat councillor Angela Davies, was needed.

The health and care scrutiny committee held 42 public and private meetings which needed the involvement of its chair, Conservative councillor Amanda Jenner.

The learning and skills committee met 59 times in public and private for meetings involving chairman, Councillor Gwynfor Thomas (Conservative).

The planning, taxi licensing and rights of way committee held 28 meetings in public and committee chairmen have been involved in a further 25 briefing meetings with county planners.

The report also says that the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) that sets the salary for councillors has been asked by the Powys authority whether one-off “ad-hoc” payments can be given to committee chairs when the role has not been allocated a senior salary.

A recommendation from the committee on whether to pay a senior salary or not will go in front of a future full council meeting.