Local government reorganisation, particularly the move towards unitary councils, presents a timely opportunity to reconsider the remuneration and role rights of being a councillor. Moving to single tier authorities will result in fewer councillors across England, each councillor therefore representing a larger population on average. With ongoing devolution and reorganisation, new unitary councils - and mayoral strategy authorities they will work closely with - will have greater responsibilities and powers. Alongside this, the Government is reforming standards for councillors aiming to raise professionalism and to help “attract the best and brightest talent into local government, giving residents the representation they deserve.”
This means there will be greater duties and higher expectations placed upon councillors. It is therefore timely to look at the conditions and benefits of councillors bring to ensure that the remuneration and rights associated with the role of councillors are in line with a higher degree of professionalism. A reset of the remuneration and role terms of councillors should not only be designed to support higher responsibility for local government within the English system, but also to address existing systemic issues that arise from the way councillor remuneration and rights work in England. Chiefly, the new approach should aim to enable a more representative group of councillors that more closely mirrors the communities they serve, and to address the wide disparities in remuneration across England given for similar roles.This would help ensure greater fairness, consistency, and inclusivity, enabling better democratic representation of the population.
In this context of variation and constant change, this project seeks to answer two clear research questions:
1) What impact do the current arrangements around responsibilities, remuneration, terms and conditions and benefits have on councillors and the recruitment of candidates?
2) How should the terms and conditions of being a councillor change considering changes from Local Government Reorganisation and devolution, a desire for greater professionalism, and the issues with the current system?