THE annual allowance for BCP Council members has been increased by more than five per cent.

Councillors approved the scheme of members’ allowances in May last year, which included increasing them in accordance with the employees’ national pay award once it was determined.

The pay award for 2022/23 was set as a fixed amount of £1,925 pro rata and a calculation was required to convert this into a percentage.

An officer decision record said it was decided the “most fair and equitable option” was to use the average pay award granted to employees of BCP Council – 5.44 per cent.

This takes the basic councillor allowance to more than £13,500.

A projected increase of 3.1 per cent was included in the 2022/23 budget, meaning the increase, which will be back dated to May 10, 2022, creates a potential budget pressure of £34,000.

The decision record said this might be off-set to a “small degree” by councillors foregoing part of their allowances.

The 5.54 per cent increase was supported by political group leaders and unaligned councillors following a meeting on February 3.