Dudley Council has a brand new line-up with plenty of fresh faces after Reform UK took 22 seats on election night. The 72-seat council is still run by the Conservatives who have 27 councillors, Reform has 23 elected members, Labour has 15, the Liberal Democrats have four and The Black Country Party has three councillors.
Council Leadership and Scrutiny
The council is run by a cabinet of councillors from the ruling party while the official opposition provides a shadow cabinet to scrutinise decisions and policies. Scrutiny also comes from a number of council committees which hold councillors and officers to account with rigorous questions before making recommendations to cabinet about council policy. All councillors serve a four-year term of office with a third of seats up for election each year with one year having no elections in the four year cycle.
Allowances and Special Responsibility Payments
While senior council officers receive salaries in the six-figure bracket, elected members receive more modest financial rewards. Every councillor collects an annual allowance of £12,532 per year and elected members taking on extra duties receive special responsibility payments on top of their basic remuneration. The leader of the council gets an extra £29,429, the deputy leader picks up £23,274 and cabinet members collect an allowance top up of £16,755.
Opposition Allowances
Leaders and spokespersons for any opposition party with more than ten councillors also get special allowances. Opposition leaders who qualify collect £13,178, deputy leaders get £10,410 and qualifying group's spokespersons receive a further £7,510.
Committee Roles
Scrutiny committees play a big part in holding councillors and officers to account in crucial departments like finance, housing and children's services. Other council committees oversee matters like licensing for hospitality and taxis. The chairperson of a committee collects an extra £11,158 and the vice chair gets £5,380. Leading members of the council's planning committee get a larger allowance of £13,039 while their deputy collects £6,108.
Allowance Reviews
Allowances are reviewed each year in line with the agreed cost of living pay increases for local authority staff whose pay award is determined by the National Joint Council. Any extra allowances for councillors are backdated to April if agreed later in the year.
