The new leader of the Isle of Wight Council has said it would be no good raising the amount it pays its staff to a real living wage if it meant cuts to services or a loss of jobs.
In its second meeting since being appointed as the new administration, the Alliance group was questioned as to whether it would increase the average wage of its employees.
Cllr Richard Quigley, 1 of 4 independent councillors forming the authority, asked whether the council would consider being accredited as a real living wage employer and set a time limit for all its contractors to do so.
The real living wage is different from the national wage and is determined by how much it actually takes to live and meet everyday needs.
Outside London, that rate is £9.50 an hour, compared to minimum wage, for those under 23, of £8.36 and the national living wage, for those over 23, at £8.91.
Across South East England, Winchester City Council, Reading Borough Council and Brighton and Hove City Council are among some of the local authorities who are pledged to pay the real living wage and have received accredited status.
Leader of the Isle of Wight Council Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox said it was an aspiration of the Alliance administration to end poverty, with the help of the voluntary sector, but it was a complex challenge to achieve.
She said being a real living wage employer may be one approach but they must first understand the impact it would have on the authority’s wider financial position.
Explaining the council’s lowest pay grade was £18,191, or £9.45 an hour, the authority was only paying 5p less than the real living wage.
Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said to accommodate the changes made to the national living wage this year, which saw a 2.2% increase, adult social care staff will receive their share of £500,000.
To increase wages further, to the real living wage as suggested, would coat around £1.5 million in the adult social care sector alone.
She said:
“I am not saying ‘no way, we should not do this’, we just need to consider this very carefully and in the round; setting it against all the other priorities of council funding from our limited resources.”
Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said the new administration, with the help of Cllr Quigley, is starting a new piece of work to build on community wellbeing, which will consider the impact of becoming a real living wage employer on the authority and local community.
And yet they will no doubt award themselves a huge pay increase come next April…. hypocrisy at it’s finest.
When will commenters get it into their skulls that Councillors are unpaid? Therefore no pensions. Most get allowances to cover their costs in getting to meetings/functions/events and for essential communication, but that would leave any effective Cllr way out of pocket.
Talking about the council office staff !!!!!!
Their wages their pensions our money !!!!!
Perhaps when commenting ,people should read the article !!!
Just saying !!!
Mark me down ……
17th september last year….
COUNCILLORS voted to increase their pay by more than £200 last night despite a call to freeze it while the Island suffers from Covid-19.
At a meeting of the Isle of Wight Council last night (Wednesday), the member’s allowance scheme was passed which, following the advice of an independent remuneration panel, increases councillors basic and special responsibility allowances by 2.75 per cent.
This means the basic allowance for all 40 Isle of Wight Councillors for 2020/21 is now £8,231, a £220 increase from the previous financial year when councillors received £8,011.
Remember as the council put up there staff wages their pension goes up which we are all paying for. Almost 17% of our council tax goes on wages and pensions. How can the council warrant this. Do we actually need a council?
What a load rubbish, stop spending ,£40 an hour on agency workers, managers and more mangers to manage manages and reduce processes and 50 new cars in County Hall car park
You try living on minimum wage councillor and see how you like it!
… and what’s the cost of all these extra Planning Officers that have recently been parachuted in to wave through the backlog of planning applications? Is that due diligence I hear leaving the building, or is it they just can’t attract decent staff ‘cos the salaries are so poor? What a conundrum! They should employ some private consultants and commission a report, that’d sort it.
What they need extra planning officers for, when they have a big stamp that says ‘Yes’.
Suppose they got to go through the motions, they are clogged up after all.
Let’s hope they remember our wages when they whack up our council tax!!!!
No our wages won’t pay for all our utility bills food on the table clothes on our backs….
So please don’t ask for more money no one has it….. you cannot get Blood out of stone ……
Try cutting back on all the things you waste our hard earned money on……
Eg non floating bridge one big hiccup!!!!!
Employing someone to keep it Running (£38,000)…
Just 1 item …
Loads more 2 many to mention!
The percentage you use for pensions should be used for the island not your pockets…..
There are two areas of the public sector which pretty much didn’t exist 25 years ago but which now swallow up vast amounts of taxpayer cash and are deemed untouchable for ideological reasons(as opposed to any actual benefit they bring) and those are climate change and sustainability(and all the other attendant ‘eco green’ non-jobs that surround it) and diversity and inclusion – no public sector body anywhere survives without huge numbers of highly paid staff packing these depts and deliver precisely nothing of tangible benefit to the public forced to fund them (in most cases they actually make life more costly, uncomfortable and restrictive)
What’s the lowest pay grade in the private sector ?
Typical Big Wig, lines his own pocket and tells everyone else get stuffed we can’t afford it, half his pay and the rest of the cronies all are over payed
council members allowances april 2020 to march 2021
https://www.iow.gov.uk/azservices/documents/1425-Members-Allowances-20-21.pdf
you will note that the councillors claim a total of £492,114.89 between them, with Dave Stewart at the top on £25k
plenty more at £17k though.
All the top dogs at the council, such as Wendy Perera are all trousering over £2k a week each, although this isnt shown in the link above -just google, council rich lists.
and here is what they can claim for all the other non jobs they get into…
https://iow.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s2426/Appendix%201%20-%20Isle%20of%20Wight%20Council%20Members%20Allowances%20Scheme.pdf