Councillors in one of London’s most deprived boroughs have signed off pay rises for themselves totalling more than £178,000 just weeks after the local elections.
Tower Hamlets council plans to increase the special responsibility allowances for members by between 10% and 130%, while two new paid posts will be created.
The local authority argued that there had been no pay hikes for members in four years and the salaries would remain lower than those in some other neighbouring boroughs.
Executive Mayor Lutfur Rahman will see his salary rise 13%, from £81,579 to £92,000-a-year.
See also: How an electoral fraudster became mayor of Tower Hamlets (again)
Cabinet members will get increases of £13,749 (43%) bringing their allowances to £48,292 including their basic pay.
Deputy Mayors will now receive £56,874, an increase of £11,451.
Two new paid posts - Ambassador and Deputy Cabinet Member - are set to be created at a cost of £6,000 and £8,000 each, respectively.
Committee chairs will also see a hike in allowances, with the lead of the Licensing Committee getting a £8,374 increase (130%) and the Strategic Development chair’s pay rising by £8,381 (70%).
The basic allowance for all councillors will increase by £894 (8%) to £12,792.
Aspire, an independent socialist party led by Mr Rahman, retained control of Tower Hamlets town hall at the local elections on May 7.
The party’s total number of councillors rose by nine to 33.
Aspire cabinet member Kabir Ahmed said the salaries in Tower Hamlets were lower than those in other London boroughs with mayors and were recommended by an independent remunerations panel.
He said: “It's really important to understand that the level of work that is put in by members in terms of committee meetings, various quasi-judicial bodies, as well as outside bodies, clearly there is a big difference between what the allowances here in Tower Hamlets are and what the allowances are in other boroughs.
“As a result of that the independent remunerations panel have clearly identified that we are as a council lagging far behind and I think it's important that in order to encourage a more diverse background of candidates coming forward we also have to make sure that they are suitably compensated with the level of work that they put in and the hours they put in.”
Tower Hamlets has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK, at up to 43%, as well as some of the highest income deprivation in Britain.
Labour councillor David Edgar told the full council meeting last week said: “There has been no increase for four years, and so there clearly is need to do something, but I think that the scale of the increase is really quite surprising.”
He added: “I think that we need an increase, but I believe that people across the borough, when they look at the scale of this increase, the number of these increases, they will not welcome them, and that will be particularly true for those people who are suffering financially.”
A Tower Hamlets spokesman said: “In 2022, councillors decided to freeze Members’ allowances, the mayor’s allowance and allowances for other positions such as Leader of the Opposition, Cabinet Members, and Committee Chairs.
“Consequently, these allowances in Tower Hamlets are lower than similar local authorities.
“For example, the Tower Hamlets Mayor's allowance is less than the Mayoral allowances in Hackney and Newham, and below the level recommended by the Independent Remuneration Panel.
“At the Annual General Meeting, councillors voted to adjust allowances after this four-year freeze to bring them in line with similar authorities such as Hackney, Newham and Lewisham. These adjusted allowances are still lower than most similar authorities and in most cases below the level recommended by the Independent Remuneration Panel.”
