COUNCILLORS backed their own pay freeze last night.
All 69 Kirklees councillors will receive basic pay of £12,566 for 2013/14 – the same as the 2012/13 rate.
The leader of the Kirklees Council, Clr Mehboob Khan, gets £25,155 in addition to the basic allowance.
Kirklees deputy leader, Clr David Sheard, gets £18,866 plus the basic.
Cabinet members Clrs Jean Calvert, Cath Harris, Peter McBride, Peter O’Neill, Shabir Pandor, Cathy Scott and Molly Walton each receive £12,274 plus the basic.
Chairs and members of scrutiny panels and area committees will receive the same as last year.
Clrs Robert Light, Conservative leader, Kath Pinnock, Liberal Democrat leader and Andrew Cooper, who heads the Green and Valley Independents, each get £9,820 as opposition leader.
The allowances were set by the Independent Review Panel but needed approval of the full council.
The only change for 2013/14 is £6,138 for two members of the Police and Crime Panel. It will be reviewed in November once there is greater clarity of the role.
The basic allowance recognises the time councillors are expected to spend on council work – on average 80 hours a month, of which the first 20 are reflected as voluntary.
There is no extra for travel and subsistence costs for duties within Kirklees. Outside the borough councillors can claim 50% for attendance at conferences if it is deemed part-development.
Pensions are based on the basic and special responsibility allowances.
Councillors can claim 45p per for mileage up to 10,000 miles and 20p per mile for a bike.
The last time councillors’ basic rate increased was in 2009/10.
