 |
Salaries & allowances of British mayors |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FRONT PAGE About us   ON OTHER PAGES Mayors fighting COVID-19 Mayors in Europe: Politics & Powers (2019) World's capital cities and their mayors (2020) Salaries of British mayors Salaries of French mayors Salaries of German mayors Salaries of Japanese mayors African American Mayors Belgian Mayors (2020) British Mayors (2021) Canadian Mayors (2021) French Mayors (2020) German mayors (2021) Indian mayors (2021) Italian mayors (2021) Japanese mayors (2021) Polish mayors (2020) Spanish mayors (2020) Turkish mayors (2019) American mayors (2021) Women in US local government World Mayors and politics Voter turnout - an international comparison Largest cities in the world and their mayors (2017) Largest cities with women mayors (2017) Capital cities and their mayors (2017) |
 Britain’s public service ethoscurbs elected mayors’ salaries November 2019: In the UK local politics has long been seen as community service rather than a professional career and this is reflected in the salaries paid to elected mayors. By contrast, senior officials in city administrations are often paid more than double the mayor’s salary. For instance, the Metro Mayor of the Tees Valley receives a modest £37,000 per year, yet the authority’s chief executive takes home a more impressive £139,000, collecting over £100,000 more. While mayoral and councillors’ remuneration is recommended by independent external advisers, councils are free to set their own political pay rates, though most reduce or freeze against the recommended level, mindful of local voters’ reactions. In contrast, other political offices in the UK pay comparably more, with the basic salary for a Member of the UK Parliament (MP) set at £79,468 although (famously) they receive much more when travel and accommodation expenses are taken into account. The Head of the UK Civil Service, the Cabinet Secretary, is paid £200,000 a year, more than the Prime Minister himself on £154,000. Local authorities in the UK have a legal duty to publish the salaries (known as allowances) paid to both elected mayors and ordinary councillors, which they post online. Allowances are set annually by the full council, acting on the advice of an external independent remuneration panel (also required by law) recruited by the council (usually consisting of retired officials and academics). The council may however disregard the rates suggested by the panel (arrived at by considering local factors, workloads and the ‘going rate’ for other posts), especially if the authority has implemented pay freezes and lay-offs for its regular workforce. Most councils set a Basic Allowance for all members (to reimburse reasonable expenses and childcare) and an additional Special Responsibility Allowance to recognise those with additional executive responsibilities such as the Mayor and members of their Cabinet (while some councils combine both for the Mayor). The Basic Allowance is not seen as a salary and in smaller rural authorities can be quite low. Under its separate legislation, the Greater London Authority may set a one-off 'resettlement' payment for the Mayor of London on retirement or loss of office, but this facility is not available to other elected mayors in England. There are two types of elected mayor in England (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have none). Firstly, the Mayor of London and the eight Metro Mayors of the Combined Authorities. The second type is the elected mayors of local authorities (municipalities) in England, which have existed since 2002. Broadly speaking, the Metro Mayors do not provide local services in the same way that local authority mayors are responsible for as heads of local authorities, but rather oversee local transport and economic development. The Mayor of Greater Manchester however also acts as both fire authority and local Police and Crime Commissioner (separately elected to elsewhere across England) and this is reflected in his salary. Annual salaries of metro mayors
Annual allowances of city mayors
© Copyright: City Mayors. All rights reserved Recommended further reading Salaries of French mayors Salaries of German mayors Salaries of Japanese mayors British mayors 2019 UK local government Follow @City_Mayors |