Walsall councillors to agree pay freeze

The 58 councillors will be asked at their full council meeting to agree to a freeze on their pay in line with what employees at the council have already agreed to.

Members are not expected to vote against the proposal, which has previously been described as 'only fair' by the authority's leader councillor Sean Coughlan as he battles to find £86 million of savings by 2020.

The councillors were not able to agree a freeze at the same time as council staff as their allowances need to be discussed through an independent remuneration panel, which has given the freeze the green light.

The panel has also presented options for four 'cabinet support members' to receive an extra £3,462 each as a special responsibility allowance (SRA).

This proposal has infuriated Councillor Mike Bird, the Conservative opposition leader on the council, as councillors and employees have their pay frozen.

He said: "They are asking the staff and members to take a pay freeze but there Councillor Coughlan is trying to get extra money for his mates.

"A cabinet assistant is a non-job, there is no need for them."

But Councillor Coughlan has insisted he will not be acting on the panel's recommendation and that the assistants, who have already been in place for a year, will continue to work for no extra money,

He said: "Councillor Bird will know all about non-jobs because some of his cabinet were not doing anything at all when they were in power. However since we took over control we have put that right and are turning the council around.

"I can assure the tax payers in Walsall we are not creating non-jobs."

If there was a sudden change of heart and an SRA was agreed, the money would come from reducing the current extra allowances given to cabinet members rather than extra money being pumped into the cash-strapped authority's coffers.