Highest paid outside London: Panel recommends £69,000 allowance for Salford Mayor Ian Stewart

By Hannah Hulme

The Mayor of Salford could soon be the highest paid outside of London after a report recommended a ‘special responsibility allowance’ of £69,000.

On July 18 council members will consider the advice of the independent panel, who also recommended the Deputy Mayor receive 65% of the City Mayor’s allowance, £44,850.

The panel consisted of four individuals which Salford Council claim are representative of a cross section of business, academia and the ‘third sector’.

A spokesperson for the council said the panel were ‘well aware of the issues facing the city’ but there has been a great deal of debate about the position’s pay scale from an early stage.

Conservative councilor and 2012 mayoral candidate, Karen Garrido, spoke to MM about pay for the position prior to the May election.

 “It’s difficult to say how much you think you’re worth as a mayoral candidate. Some people said they would do it unpaid, but that doesn’t seem right.” she said.

“I didn’t go into this thinking about how much I was going to get paid. As a councilor we get £10,000 a year and a lot of us do a lot of work outside that and we’re not really getting a fair days pay.”

Many Salford residents have taken to the twitter to voice their concerns.

Accountant, David Morgan, said: “It's being considered that the Labour Mayor of Salford and his deputy should get an 80% pay rise! What planet are people on?”

Charlie Sutherland added: “What do they do to justify that kind of pay?”

The independent panel in Liverpool recommended £79,500 as allowance, but Mayor Joe Anderson opted to reduce the amount to £65,000, leading to speculation that Ian Stewart might do the same.

Chief Executive of Salford City Council, Barbara Spicer, said: "The City Mayor and Deputy City Mayor roles are completely new in Salford so don't have a set special responsibility allowance.

“It is up to the members of the council to decide if they accept these recommendations as part of a fair and democratic process.”

The independent remuneration panel has also been asked to review the scheme of allowances for all members of the council.

They have been asked to make their recommendations for this in time for the September meeting of the full council.

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