SENIOR councillors could be due to receive an increase in the amount they are paid of between 14 and 17.5 per cent.

The proposed increases, which will go before the council next month, will make tough reading for the residents of Swindon who continue to face cuts to services in what has been described as an unprecedented climate of financial difficulty.

The recommendations, contained in a report from the Independent Remuneration Panel, were put to a meeting of the cabinet last week and will now go forward to July’s full council meeting for consideration.

While the basic allowance paid to all 57 councillors is only set to rise by £340 – from £7,880 to £8,220 – the additional payment made to those with extra responsibilities could go up by significantly more.

The leader of the council, Coun David Renard (Con – Haydon Wick), could see a rise of 17.5 per cent in his total annual allowance payments, from £27,987 to £32,880.

His deputy, currently Coun Russell Holland (Con – Stratton St Margaret and South Marston), could be in line for an extra £2,769 a year which would take his total annual allowance from £19,836 to £22,605 – an increase of some 14 per cent.

Cabinet members and the leader of the opposition could also see the money they receive go up by 14 per cent, with the former set to receive £20,550 each and the latter £14,385 under the new proposals.

Speaking at last week’s cabinet meeting, Mr Renard said: “We asked the Independent Remuneration Panel to do a piece of work for us and see how the allowances of other authorities compare with those in Swindon.

“Those allowances are a decision for the full council and not for cabinet, but I would like to thank the chair and the panel for their hard work, I know they spend a lot of time doing the comparisons and interviewing members and other relevant witnesses.

“I welcome what they’ve placed before us, it’s a very thorough piece of work.”

If the recommendations are passed by the full council next month, they will be phased in over a two year period.

The first increases will come into force next April with the remainder taking effect the following year.

Each councillor receives the same basic allowance in acknowledgement of the work they do and the time they dedicate to the role.

Cabinet members, members of the party leaderships and committee chairmen receive an additional payment on top of that.

The new recommendations also suggest that some roles should now attract additional payments when they previously did not.

One such position is that of chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board which is soon to be held by Brian Mattock, a former Conservative councillor who failed to win re-election in May but was returned to the board as a lay member nonetheless.

That role would be worth £6,165 if the new proposals pass through the council in their current form.