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Cheshire East councillors to decide whether to increase their allowances

By Belinda Ryan - Local Democracy Reporter 8th May 2026

4 comments | Local News

Local News by Belinda Ryan - Local Democracy Reporter 8th May 2026 4

Cheshire East councillors will decide whether to increase their allowances on Wednesday 13 May (Photo: Ryan Parker).

Cheshire East councillors will decide next week whether to increase their allowances.

All CEC councillors currently have a basic allowance of £12,851, with the council leader having a special responsibility allowance (SRA) of £29,517 on top of that and the deputy an SRA of £17,820.

Committee chairs and others with special responsibilities have an additional allowance of up to £12,485.

The Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) recommended these allowances should increase by 2.5 per cent for 2024/25 and 3.2 per cent for 2025/26, backdated to April 2024.

And in March the corporate policy committee agreed, by majority vote, to recommend the uplift to full council, which meets on Wednesday (May 13).

Full council will also be asked to agree that a targeted review be conducted by the IRP to consider member allowances for when Cheshire East transfers to a cabinet system – which happens this month.

During the March meeting, some councillors had raised concerns the low payments were a barrier to younger people standing for election because they couldn't afford to take time off from their paid employment to fulfil a councillor role.

Deputy leader Michael Gorman (Wilmslow, Independent), had said: "One big issue is that we risk being a council of the retired, for the retired, focusing on issues that concern the retired."

He asked: "Do member allowances have a bearing on this?"

And he said the cabinet system will bring a huge increase in responsibilities for portfolio members.

Cllr Rob Vernon (Macclesfield, Labour), had said: "This idea that 50 per cent of member time is voluntary and not eligible for remuneration, it locks in, by necessity, that the council is of the retired and of the independently wealthy.

He added just 1.2 per cent of the elected council is under 40 'and these policies, they do entrench that'.

The matter will be discussed at the extraordinary meeting of the full council, which takes place at Tatton Park at 2.30pm on Wednesday 13 May.

The extraordinary meeting will follow mayor-making and the annual meeting, which takes place at 11am on the same day.

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Comments (4)

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Pcornes is correct about Cllr Faddes work rate. BUT, half the people she helps won't vote, and of the rest many will just follow the trend and still vote against her. And then we'll have Reform councillors who will still take every penny they can get away with whilst doing less for it. CEC already has one Reform councillor (defection) and one who has gone "independent" but is closely linked with Reform activists - let's see how they vote on this matter.

Our local Councillor Hazel Faddes is worth her weight in gold,
I can honestly say she always does her best to answer any questions about your concerns or I Hazel cannot give you a direct answer she will always find the answer to your question .
A true ambassador and a Good hard working person.
She deserves Credit where it's due.👍

What does "as we’re not allowed" mean? Council seats are up for election are every 4 years, but not all together, it goes back to when they were created. Those in Thursdays election were last elected in 2022, or are new seats. All CEC seats were last elected in 2023 so are due next year. It seems to me that either you have a weak grasp of english or a poor knowledge of how government works in the country. Anyway, you now have one year to get a nomination form (and some supporters to counter sign it) and you can stand to be a councillor. You're obviously willing to offer 12 hours a week to do better whilst sending the money back.