Councillors have awarded themselves almost a ten per cent pay rise.

Malvern Hills District Council voted in favour of increasing the basic allowance given to all councillors by more than £400.

The basic allowance for all 31 councillors will now rise from £4,650 to £5,081.

The allowance for the leader of the council will also rise from £13,950 to £15,243 and the deputy leader’s pay will increase from £8,137.50 to £8,891.75.

The council’s portfolio holders will receive £7,612.50 – up from £6,975 – and the same allowance will be paid to the chair of the council’s scrutiny committee.

The recommendation to increase councillor pay was made by the independent remuneration panel – the body responsible for working out how much councillors should be paid. The changes were agreed at a full meeting of Malvern Hills District Council on September 19.

Cllr Dean Clarke said it was "time to bite the bullet" over increasing councillor pay.

“We often ignored their recommendations perhaps understandably because of a sense of unease," he said.

“Doing so just leads to future problems, unfortunately. It’s time to bite the bullet. If we are to receive allowances, they need to be realistic and proportional, as recommended by those we’ve asked to advise us.”

Cllr Clarke said the amount was independently recommended and was benchmarked against other councils.

“I imagine many councillors here were quite surprised when they were first told they were going to be paid [to be a councillor]," he said. 

“Then probably became more surprised by the amount of work you have to do … and we do spend an incredible amount of hours and an increasing number of hours, I find, carrying out our duties.

“Some of us are fortunate in not needing this payment but others have to forego employment opportunities to carry out their duties. We should not discourage potential future candidates because they cannot afford to act as representatives of their communities."

The number of councillors on Malvern Hills District Council was decreased from 38 to 31 following a recent review by the Local Government Boundary Commission – with the changes in place for May’s local elections.

Cllr Jeremy Owenson said the pay rise should not be contentious this year because the number of councillors had decreased – and the increase in the basic allowance was “quite small.”

“I think it covers the fact that councillors are now covering much greater areas, particularly in the rural wards," he said.

“The role is a labour of love but if we can do something to make that a little bit easier for people to represent their communities, we should do that.”