COUNCILLORS have approved a £500 increase in their allowances.

Westmorland and Furness councillors voted in favour of recommendations made by the independent remuneration panel (IRP) to raise the basic allowance from £13,000 to £13,500 a year.

A report says the basic allowance acts as a ‘barrier’ to a ‘broader and more diverse’ makeup of the council.

Speaking at the meeting council leader Jonathan Brook (Kendal South, Lib Dems) said: “I do believe it is important the level of allowances is such that we’re able to attract a diverse range of councillors that are best able to reflect the needs and aspirations of our communities.”

Conservative leader councillor Hilary Carrick (Hesket and Lazonby) stressed the importance of focussing on improving the delivery of council services in light of the increase in allowances.

Cllr Carrick said: “If we do go ahead and approve these allowances, we really do need to concentrate on delivering a visible improvement to the delivery of council services. We’ve heard today on numerous occasions about how residents are dissatisfied with the level of service they’re getting.

“Whilst the allowance is a reflection of the time councillors put in to council work rather than as a consequence of the performance of the council, we just need to be aware that there is an increasingly wide perception that councillors are being rewarded for poor performance.”

At a council meeting in April, the authority agreed for the IRP to carry out a review into members’ basic allowances.

The review from the IRP consisted of circulating a questionnaire to councillors, holding focus groups for committee chairs and vice chairs as well as two meetings for councillors.

A report issued by the IRP after the review found members ‘typically’ spent around 16 hours a week on work connected to their basic allowance.

It also revealed that when combined with responsibilities associated with being a chair of committee or group leader, the extent of members’ responsibilities and workload made it ‘very challenging’ for these councillors to also have a full-time job.

According to the report, committee chairs estimated that they spent up to 25 hours a week on committee business, with an average of around 10 hours a week.

The report adds: “Travel to in-person meetings was highlighted as an issue in terms of time commitments, particularly for members in Eden and Barrow given the geographical footprint of the council.

“Whilst the majority of members thought the basic allowance was about right for them given their particular personal circumstances, a common theme was that it was below the Living Wage and not sufficient to attract younger people to being a councillor, acting as a barrier to a broader and diverse makeup of the council.”

The total cost of the recommended increase in allowance is £49,000 a year. This will take the total budget for members’ allowances to £1.168 million this financial year.

Commenting on the report, Paul Jones, chair of the Independent Remuneration Panel said: “We feel that this very reasonable increase goes some way to reflect their commitment and hard work in support of their communities and the overall running of the council as a multi-million pound business.”

This comes after councillors approved proposals to increase the allowance of cabinet members in April by £5,200 a year as the previous allowance did not ‘properly reflect’ the commitments of the role.

In April the council increased the special responsibility allowance for cabinet members from £7,800 a year to £13,000 a year. The council also raised the allowance of the council leader from £23,400 to £26,000 a year and the deputy leader’s allowance from £13,000 to £15,600 after recommendations from The Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP).

The council approved the raise in members allowances on July 11 at the County Hall in Kendal.