Councillors and MLAs in line for pay rises

Council and Assembly pay for the North’s politicians has come under intense scrutiny.

Derry City and Strabane District councillors last week voted in favour of the Department for Communities’ updated Scheme of Allowance. Under the Scheme, every members’ annual basic allowance will increase from £15,071 to £17,456 - the first rise since 2019; the rise will be backdated to April 2024.

It also emerged on Tuesday, Stormont MLAs may soon receive an annual pay rise of £20,000 under the auspices of a new Remuneration Board being established to review their pay; at present, MLAa are paid £52,500 per annum.

There were no Sinn Féin councillors present in the Guildhall chamber during the Scheme of Allowance vote taken by Derry and Strabane councillors; the party had earlier walked out of the meeting, unhappy with the conduct of the discussion on a motion regarding ending violence against women and girls. 

Speaking to The Derry News after the meeting, Cllr Sandra Duffy said Sinn Féin would have voted against the updated Scheme of Allowance.

She said: “The proposed updated Scheme of Allowance came up at Council’s Governance and Strategic Planning committee meeting earlier in the month. I spoke on the matter and said that Sinn Féin wished to refuse the pay offer at this stage. We were waiting on decisions to be made by the minister regarding councillor pay. 

“As we have stated, over a number of years, we are not comfortable awarding ourselves a pay rise in Council.

“There were different opinions expressed at the committee meeting and I withdrew my proposal around refusing it to allow for a full discussion by all councillors at full Council. 

“Unfortunately what transpired at full Council was that we did walk out and for very good reasons but the councillors who were present decided to go ahead with the business and discuss the pay rise in Sinn Féin’s absence and awarded themselves a pay rise in Sinn Féin’s absence. We would have been very clear, and have stated it in the past, we are opposed to awarding ourselves a pay rise. Had we been in the chamber when the vote was taken, Sinn Féin would have voted against the pay rise,” said Cllr Duffy.  

Proposing Derry City and Strabane District Council should accept the Department for Communities’ updated Scheme of Allowance, Cllr Paul Gallagher (Independent) said the Derry and Strabane region was the area of “highest deprivation” in the North. 

“As a councillor for 10 or 11 years, I have been campaigning on picket lines and other various avenues for wage equality across the North. There is a very big disparity in terms of east versus west. In Derry and Strabane, we are between 10 and 20% lower paid than our counterparts in the east. We can look at areas like Lisburn and Castlereagh who are 10% higher,” said Cllr Gallagher.

“Today this Council has passed motions around wage disparity and trying to get equal pay. I believe that this equality falls again within the Scheme of Allowances.

“The circular says all determinations are made by the Department for Communities; it is not us voting for a pay rise. What I am asking councillors is that we share and proactively support equality across councillors. I don't think we're doing any workers any favours by reinforcing disparity,” said Cllr Gallagher, whose proposal was seconded by Alderman Darren Guy (UUP). 

Opposing the implementation of the updated Scheme of Allowance, Cllr Shaun Harkin (People Before Profit) said although he was “very sympathetic” regarding members for whom councillor pay was their only income, he stood by the principle councillors should not be “voting on our own pay”. 

He added: “I think it's unfair because the vast majority of workers don't get to do that, other people decide. Then they have to try and fight to improve that.

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“Yes there were a lot of picket lanes over the last couple of years but the pay of the vast majority of public sector workers or private sector workers or community sector workers is not going up. They’re not really better off if you actually talk to them.

“Look at rental costs, which are 10% higher every year. That's what we're being hit with, [not to mention] the cost of food. I think it's unfair that politicians get the vote to raise their own wages when others have to bargain, fight and organize.

“Once again this goes back to Stormont. I would like to know where is the action from the Stormont Executive on taking this out of council chambers and deciding it through another mechanism that it's actually fair for councillors and done in a way that will be fair to the rate payer as well and to the general public?” said Cllr Harkin.

Supporting the motion, Cllr Shauna Cusack (Independent) said the remuneration councillors receive would “dictate the type of people you get into Council”.

“Years ago when you didn't get paid that much, it was open to professionals, business men, men of a certain income. There were very few women, only people who had the time and the income to be able to become members  of political parties and sit in this chamber,” she added.

“We want to be more representative of a diverse community and we want more female representation and the part of our community, of society, is that women do not get paid, sadly, as much as men.”