Councillors in Scotland deserve 22% pay rise to reflect 'responsibilities' of the job

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A local government body has called for councillors to receive a 22 per cent pay rise in a bid to make the job more attractive.Experts also say town hall politicians should be entitled to MSP-style exit payments if they lose office.Councillors oversee a swathe of public services, including social work and education, but receive a significantly lower salary than MSPs.Their basic pay is currently £20,099 while an MSP is on £67,662.The Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee has produced recommendations to boost the financial package offered to councillors.One is for salaries to be set at 80 per cent of the median salary for all employees in the public sector, which would see a rise to £24,581..Leaders of larger local authorities, such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, would receive the same as an MSP.SLARC reported: “Some councillors believe that there should be a clearer link between the remuneration package provided to them and those received by parliamentarians, reflecting more clearly the shared responsibility of councillors, MSPs and MPs to represent the interests of their constituents.“Very often, we heard that the complex portfolios carried by senior councillors involved far greater responsibilities than some parliamentary roles.“Current remuneration levels are not considered to reflect or match the complexity of the role of the councillor.

This can be a significant barrier to candidates, particularly women, people with disabilities, lone parents, and young people.“We heard that the current level of remuneration can lead to candidates deciding not to stand, or to serving councillors standing down after serving a single term, as well as concern at the lack of any severance arrangements for councillors losing