BIG increases in allowances have been agreed for members of Wiltshire Council only weeks after 252 staff were made redundant.

The increases, put forward by Wiltshire Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel, were passed by 53 votes to 28, with two abstentions, at a full council meeting last week.

It means Jane Scott, Wiltshire Council leader and head of the Conservative group, will see her allowance rise by 36.5 per cent a year, affording her an additional £14,892 on her present £37,335, bringing the figure to £52,227.

This figure covers her position as council leader and chairman of the health and wellbeing board.

Carrying out the review, the first since 2009, the independent body compared Wiltshire Council’s allowances scheme with other councils and also considered government guidance.

The increases, to be backdated from May’s elections, will see councillors’ basic allowances go up by one per cent, a rise of £122, to £12,289 a year with those councillors who are members of the council’s cabinet seeing allowances increase by at least 22 per cent from £15,101 to £18,433 a year.

Cllr Scott told the meeting: “I think it is important that it’s not the people but the positions. It is about positioning the council in the right place to get the right people to do these jobs.”

Cllr Scott subsequently declined to answer questions about whether she would accept the increase, and how she could justify it at a time when many council workers have had a three-year pay freeze, followed by a one per cent rise this year.

During the summer, the council ran a voluntary redundancy programme in which 252 staff decided to leave. In September, seven of the council’s 18 senior officers took voluntary redundancy, a saving of £300,000 a year in salaries, while the remaining officers saw their wages rise by 7.5 per cent, on average, to recognise their additional responsibilities During last Tuesday’s meeting, Liberal Democrats and independent councillors put forward several amendments to reduce the increase in allowances but these were all defeated.

Cllr Stuart Wheeler, cabinet member for governance, believes the allowances will encourage more participation in local politics.

“I’m happy to defend our allowances to members of the public,” he said.

But Cllr Jon Hubbard, leader of the Wiltshire Liberal Democrats, said: “It is outrageous that we have seen the Conservative leadership at Wiltshire Council receive a massive pay rise just after they have made hundreds of staff redundant.”

Sue Anderson, secretary of Wiltshire’s Unison branch, which represents the council’s workforce, said: “It seems strange that they can find money in these instances but it never seems a priority with frontline staff.”

An online petition, started by Wiltshire resident Paul Gaunt, calling for Cllr Scott and her cabinet to resign because of the increases, has attracted more than 100 signatures. http://tinyurl.com/nbxqww8