THE WAGE bill for councillors in Conwy is expected to jump by more than £300,000 over a five-year period – with senior cabinet members enjoying the biggest increases.
The annual salaries bill for 2020/21 was £1,088,949.49, compared to £1,235,554.32 for 2023/24, an increase of £146,604.83. The wage bill for 2024/25 is currently being audited, but it is estimated salaries will increase in total by another £78,000.
Likewise, salaries for 2025/26 are forecasted to cost the taxpayer an additional £92,000, meaning councillor salaries will have increased by £316.604.83 over a five-year period, bringing the total wage bill to over £1,405,554. This equates to a 29% overall wage increase within a five-year period.
The position of leader has seen the highest increase, rising from £49,974 in 2020/21 to £66,727 in 2025/26. The deputy leader’s salary has also increased from £35,320 to £46,709 in the same period.
This means both positions have enjoyed a pay rise of £16,753 and £11,389 respectively in five years. This year also saw cabinet members’ wages increase from £37,799 last year to £40,036 in 2025.
In 2025/26 the new salary structure, as published by the IRPW, will start on 1 April 2025 and will also see committee chairs and the council chair earn £29,657, with a councillor’s basic salary (backbenchers) at £19,771.
Councillor’s salaries are set by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW), although it is up to individual councillors whether they accept.
Conwy County Council has increased council tax by around 30% in three years, cutting front-line services and education, resulting in school job losses, which the leader has blamed on the Welsh Government’s ‘flawed’ funding formula.
Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders said the councillor salary increase figures would not go down well with the public. “The salary increase will stick in the throat of hard-working council taxpayers and pensioners and families.
“There has been a 30% council tax increase over the past three years at a time when we are seeing services withdrawn, toilets closed, less litter collections, less weeding,” she said.
Merfyn Thomas, the vice chairman of Old Colwyn Residents’ Association and a former Conwy councillor said residents were getting less for their money: “If you think that council tax has gone up by 10% a year, now from a compound interest point of view, over three years, that means council tax has gone up by 42%, which is a heck of an increase.
“The actual payment to the individual councillors has (also) gone up. We seem to be paying more and more for less. We feel we are not getting value for money.”
Mr Thomas then pointed to Conwy employing a diversity officer and paying for a rugby pitch at Parc Eirias, which he believed the authority could not afford. He added: “What we feel and is generally felt is a lack of business sense in the council. We’ve got potholes, litter not being picked up. There are an awful lot of things that the council needs to do.”
Conwy’s leader, Cllr Charlie McCoubrey said: “Councillors’ remuneration is set independently, and it is up to each individual councillor to decide whether they wish to accept any increase as is the case with all elected representatives. “It remains a central tenet of a well-functioning democracy that an individual’s opportunity to stand to represent their community should not be based on their personal wealth but on their skills and commitment to represent the communities they serve.”
A council spokeswoman added “The council is not in a position to change the level of salaries determined by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW). The council has to accept the determinations, but it is up to individual councillors whether they accept the full salary – this has always been the case.”
