Councillors are recompensed for their time, considered as Voluntary Service, not salaried employment, under national guidelines. Remuneration in this way is treated by HMRC as taxable employment , including usually Class 1 NI contributions. There are also rules for necessary expenses in performing civic duties, and these should be strictly limited to actual and necessary expenses only.

The levels of allowance are set and reviewed by an Independent Remuneration Panel . There are no restrictions on Councillors having other employment, except where there may be a clear conflict of interest, or where they may not be able to give the expected time to the post.

Every Councillor receives a basic allowance, currently £10,662 p.a. Councillors regarded as having Special Responsibility are awarded additional payments, according to the perceived level as set by the Remuneration panel. The following table shows the current (Nov24) special responsibility allowances and proposed changes from April 2025.

In the current report, the panel have determined that the adoption of standard multipliers, as a function of the Basic Allowance, will allow changes in future to automatically be reflected in SRA rates. It has also considered value for money, where some offices have reduced responsibilities, due to other changes and some have increased responsibilities.

Some posts will therefore suffer reduced allowances, some an increase, together with the creation of new SRA posts. Overall, the recommended expenditure for 2025 FY increases by a total of £5,212. The actual amount will be further increased by a deferred increase of £750 plus a cost of living increase, probably of the order of 4%. This will set the basic allowance to some £11,868 p.a. All of the proposed Special Responsibility allowances shown below will be uplifted in proportion, e.g .The Council Leader will receive 3.5 x £11,868 +£11,868 = £53,406.

Role + multiplier of
BA used		PresentTotalProposed
allowance		TotalTotal Remuneration ****
Leader of Council (3.5
x BA		£35,677£35,677£37,317£37,317£47,779
Cabinet Members x 9
(includes Deputy
Leader) (2 x BA)		£21,424£192,816£21,324£191,916£31,986
Cabinet Project Leads
x4 (1 x BA)		£10,662£42,648£10,662£42,648£21,324
Chair Planning
Committee (1.5 x BA		£16,172£16,172£15,993£15,993£26,655
Vice Chair, Planning
Committee (0.5 x
BA		£3,934£3,934£5,331£5,331£15,993
Chair, Policy
Development and
Scrutiny Panels x 3
(0.8 x BA)		£8,982£26,946£8,530£25,590£19,192
Chair, Licensing Sub
Committees x 1 (0.5 x
BA)		£5,554£5,554£5,331£5,331£15,993
**Chair, Avon Pension
Fund Committee (0.5 x
BA)		£5,554£5,554£5,331£5,331£15,993
**Avon Pension Fund
Committee Members x
5 (0.4 x BA)		£4,237£21,185£4,265£21,325£14,927
***Foster Panel
Member (0.4 x BA)		£4,237£4,237£4,265£,4265£14,927
Minority Group Leaders
x 4 (0.3 x BA)
(Governance element)		£2,655£10,620£3,199£12,796£13,861
Political Group Leaders
x 5		£428 per
member		£25,252£428 per
member		£25,252
Chair of Corporate
Audit Committee x1
(0.5 x BA)		––£5,331£5,331£15,993
Chair of the Council
(0.8 x BA)		£10,597£10,597£8,530£8,530£19,192
Vice Chair of the
Council (0.2 x BA)		£2,684£2,684£2,132£2,132£12,794
Total£403,876£409,088
Difference£5,212

NB; The basic allowance will shortly be updated with the annual pay award (tied to the staff award)
and from 1.4.25 will also include the annual phased increase of £750.
Bold lettering = Specific recommended changes recommended by the Panel
** = Pension fund reimburses the cost of these allowances.
*** = Adoption West pays this allowance directly.

**** = Individual members may accrue more than one SRA