Please click on the link below and you will be able to see all 57 Tameside Councillors’ Allowances for 2012-2013.
You can also see the number of years that each councillor has been in office up to the year 2012-13 - the Councillors' Allowances for 2013-14 should be released in the next couple of months. Since last May the number of couples on Tameside Council has also increased, with a second member of the Travis family having been elected in Mossley Ward!
Perhaps of major concern should be the number of Special Responsibility Allowances claimed by councillors. Members of the Council Executive receive £20,099.00.
To start with, each councillor receives a Basic Allowance of £11,640.00 and surely this is enough for what is essentially, a part time job? We are, after all, living in a time of austerity in which the council needs to make savings!
Yet, if holding public office in Tameside is such a "great honour" - as claimed by many of our councillors - then why should many of them be paid additionally for it too? Why should a "Deputy Leader" get £23,495.00? Why should a "Deputy Mayor" be given £3,840.00 and why should a "Deputy Chair" of a District Assembly receive £3,194.00? All paid in addition to their Basic Allowance of £11,640.00!
It is surely mind-boggling to think that a councillor holding the post of "Chair" of a District Assembly should receive £9,581.00, for chairing four meetings a year which are usually attended by only a handful of people? As each meeting usually lasts only just over one hour, this means the Chair of a District Assembly is on £2,395.00 an hour!
And why, when the District Assembly is a public meeting, should the Chair have to be a councillor and not a member of the public?
Yet, if holding public office in Tameside is such a "great honour" - as claimed by many of our councillors - then why should many of them be paid additionally for it too? Why should a "Deputy Leader" get £23,495.00? Why should a "Deputy Mayor" be given £3,840.00 and why should a "Deputy Chair" of a District Assembly receive £3,194.00? All paid in addition to their Basic Allowance of £11,640.00!
It is surely mind-boggling to think that a councillor holding the post of "Chair" of a District Assembly should receive £9,581.00, for chairing four meetings a year which are usually attended by only a handful of people? As each meeting usually lasts only just over one hour, this means the Chair of a District Assembly is on £2,395.00 an hour!
And why, when the District Assembly is a public meeting, should the Chair have to be a councillor and not a member of the public?
As stated previously on this blog, having two members of the same household on the council can generate thousands of £'s in Allowances; so perhaps it's not really surprising that many of them wouldn't want to set any limit on the number of terms that any councillor can serve in office!
Surely, it is only right that each and every councillor should receive just the Basic Allowance? When put under analysis, one can see that almost all these Special Responsibility Allowances are actually unnecessary and a financial burden on the public purse!
If the Labour Party in Tameside wants to pay its Council Leader £36,036.00 a year, then perhaps such money should come from party - not public - funds - and this should also be the case for any other party too!
Carl Simmons
Denton South Independent
Saturday, 3rd January 2015
Hi Carl I have been trying to find out what Special Responsibility Allowances are, in which I mean what are they for?
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