Mid and East Antrim Council Chamber
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has today announced that the Executive has agreed an increase of 5% to the basic allowance for local councillors with effect from 1 April 2025.
The Minister also said that he will amend the legislation to permit his department in future to determine the rate of the basic allowance to be paid to all councillors.
At present individual councils are responsible for setting the rate to be paid, within limits set by the Department for Communities. This results in councillors being paid different allowance levels depending on the council they serve.
The Minister’s announcement is part of his department’s response to the recommendations of the Review of the Role and Responsibilities of Councillors in Northern Ireland report submitted to the Department for Communities last August, which covered a range of issues, including councillors’ remuneration.
Minister Lyons said:
“I am pleased that the Executive has unanimously agreed to the proposals that I have brought forward. I have considered carefully the recommendations in the report and, in doing so, I needed to balance any increase in the basic allowance for councillors against the cost to ratepayers in what is an extremely challenging financial climate. I need to ensure that increases in rates bills are kept to the minimum.
The Minister continued:
“Against a backdrop of wider public sector settlements generally in and around this level, I am content that this 5% increase for councillors is justified given the volume and complexity of council duties, the hours required to carry them out, and the fact that the role and responsibilities of councillors was last reviewed in 2013.
“I also accept that responsibility for setting the amount of the allowance actually paid to councillors should be removed from councils and instead set by my department. It is reasonable that councillors, across all council areas, should be paid the same amount of basic allowance.”
This Review of the Role and Responsibilities of Councillors in Northern Ireland was initiated in December 2021, with Terms of Reference approved by the former Minister in August 2022.
The Report and the department’s response has been published on the DfC website.
Mr Maynard Mawhinney was appointed as the independent chair of the review in December 2023, supported by a Working Group consisting of 2 other independent members (one of whom is a DfC official), a representative from the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, the National Association of Councillors Northern Ireland and a DfC policy official.
The Working Group’s final report was submitted to DfC on 16 August 2024.