Stirling councillors approve wage hike as debate over move rages on (2025)

The rises will see members receive rises of between 21 and 40 per cent - with the move described as "correcting historical problems" at the council.

Senior councillors at Stirling Council will see their wages rise by a whopping 40 per cent after a salary hike was voted through at a meeting on Thursday.

Members at the full council meeting set the levels of remuneration for councillors for the coming year, totalling around £700,000 for all 23 elected members.

The Labour administration, backed by Tory councillors, agreed the number of senior councillors would remain at six. The maximum combined total which can be payable to all senior councillors is £317,646.

Senior councillor pay will go from £26,686 up to £37,548 per annum, the maximum allowed, in line with what was described as longstanding practice at the council.

They also voted to raise the salary for the role of Lord Provost, Elaine Watterson, as the Civic Head, to £37,548 per annum - in line with the maximum allowed by statute.

Council leader Gerry McGarvey’s salary will increase from £35,580 to £50,063 – a 40 per cent hike – and the basic councillors’ salary will increase from £21,345 to £25,982 – a boost of 21.7 per cent.

Both amounts are set by the Scottish Government.

The hikes come just weeks after councillors agreed to an 8.8 per cent spike in council tax for residents for the coming year.

Independent councillor Alasdair Macpherson and sole Green councillor Alasdair Tollemache said they would only accept a three per cent rise in their pay and distributed the balance to local good causes.

Cllr Tollemache said: “Councillors should be paid more especially to attract younger people to stand.

“However this should not be with such a large increase but phased in over a period of time.

“We should have only received three per cent in line with the public sector.

“The differential between councillors and senior councillors has now increased to 40 per cent.

“This is not justified or equitable. I will only be taking three per cent of my rise, the rest I will donate to a cause in the Stirling area.”

Councillors around the chamber lamented the position they had been placed in - with Labour councillor Danny Gibson highlighting there had been examples in others councils of death threats on the back of “some ill-informed commentary around this significant issue”.

Cllr Gibson added: “I don’t think the public like politicians voting on their own pay and I don’t think any politician in this room is enamoured about having to vote on their pay.

“We’re correcting historical problems that were considered by an independent committee.“

He said in 13 years as a councillor he had voted on senior councillors’ pay on three occasions, involving different parties at different times, and it had always been set at the maximum allowed.

He continued: “I, like many councillors, took a pay cut when I became a councillor and in 13 years have claimed expenses on five occasions. We’re not expecting any thanks for it, we’re not in it for the money.

“It is an important message to get to the public that it is correcting a problem and it won’t be like this going forward.”

While the council leader and basic councillor salary figures are set by the Scottish Government, councillors were asked to make decisions which could vary the amounts paid to others with particular roles.

A failed SNP group amendment had asked for the existing additional payment to the Lord Provost to be maintained at the same rate and also for the role of vice convener of public safety role to be removed from the senior councillors list.

They also wanted the current additional payment for senior councillors maintained, which would have made the payment for senior councillors £35,323.

Bannockburn ward Independent councillor Alasdair Macpherson, seconded by Councillor Tollemache, had suggested the Lord Provost and senior councillors only receive a three per cent increase, in line with that offered to council staff, and that any savings made go back into council reserves.

The Scottish Government determines the basic pay of councillors in Scotland and this cannot be varied by individual councils.

In the regulations, the Scottish Government does not specify the pay for senior councillors, but sets the maximum amount (75 per cent of the pay of the council leader) and minimum amount (basic pay of a councillor) that a senior councillor can be paid.

The regulations also specify the maximum amount which can be spent on senior councillor salaries by each council. It is then up to individual councils to decide how much to pay its senior councillors, who may be paid different amounts.

The Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC) was reconvened by the Scottish Government in April 2023 to undertake an independent review of councillor remuneration, having previously reported in 2011.

Its recommendations included restructuring the bands into which councils were split and to increase remuneration.

Stirling Council was previously in Band A, which has been scrapped, catapulting it into a higher band with increased remuneration levels.

Stirling Council’s senior councillors currently include Robin Kleinman (Conservative), audit committee convener; Neil Benny (Cons), audit committee vice convener and planning and regulation panel chair; Danny Gibson (Labour), children and young people committee convener; Jen Preston (Labour), environment, transport and net zero committee convener; Rachel Nunn (Conservative), public safety committee convener; and Martin Earl (Cons), vice convener of public safety committee.