Basic allowance up to nearly £13,000

Dudley councillors got a 3.3 percent rise in allowances taking a basic payment for an elected member to £12,946.

The increase is set by the independent National Joint Council (NJC) in line with the rise for council staff which was agreed in August.

The deal for council staff was settled after the NJC made a full and final offer to trade unions and refused to negotiate further.

A statement from the GMB Union in August said: “Unfortunately, while a majority of regions voted initially to reject the pay offer the turnout in the vote fell short of what is required for a formal ballot on industrial action. In the circumstances, GMB regions and the National Local Government and Schools Committees had no option but to vote to reluctantly accept the offer for 2026.

“The GMB has met with the joint unions GMB, Unison and Unite. In order to form a joint trade union position at least two of the three unions must agree a position.

“Unison has also reluctantly agreed to accept the offer while Unite has not announced a final position. With two of the three unions reluctantly accepting the joint trade unions have decided to write to the National Employers informing them of the reluctant acceptance of the 2026 offer.”

The rise for councillors in line with the agreement means a hike for the extra payments, called Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA), which councillors get for leadership roles or being on committees.

Under the agreement the leader of the council gets £30,400 and cabinet members will collect an additional £17,308 on top of the basic allowance.

Chairpersons of scrutiny committees pick up £11,526 while the Planning Committee chair gets £13,469.

Leaders of opposition groups with more than ten councillors also get an SRA of £13,613 while opposition spokespersons are paid an extra £7,758.

Dudley’s basic allowances are roughly in line with other councils within the seven members of the West Midlands Combined Authority.

For 2025/26, before the latest increase when Dudley councillors got a basic allowance of £12,532, only Walsall (£13,887), Coventry (£16,886) and Birmingham (£22,596) were more than £1,000 higher.

By Martyn Smith | Local Democracy Reporting Service