Councillors in cash-strapped Monmouthshire are set for another massive pay rise of more than £1,000 per year from next April, with a draft report suggesting a move to taking the basic salary of all members to £19,771 despite the increasing pressure on councils to cut services and raise council tax in a bid to balance the books.

The basic pay of a county councillor in Monmouthshire, Powys, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen will rise by 5.9 per cent and more than £1,000 a year from £18,666 to the new figure of £19,771 from March 31, 2025 if the recommendations of the draft annual report from the Independent Remuneration Panel of Wales (IRPW) are accepted following a consultation.

The IPRW sets councillor pay each year, and suggest the more than £1,000 a year pay lift for next year on the back of a rise of £1,000 last year and a 17 per cent hike in salary for all councillors the year before in a bid to bring councillor pay in line with average earnings in order to attract a wider range of candidates to fill the roles.

In Monmouthshire, the council’s leader is in line for a £3,522 a year pay rise, bringing the pay for the role up to £63,020 from £59,498 last year.

The council’s leader role saw a £3,398 pay rise last year.

The deputy leader's pay will rise by almost £2,500 a year to £44,114, while the salary for cabinet members will increase by a shade of over £2,100 a year to £37,812.

Committee chairs will receive a boost to £29,657, while the pay for the leader of the opposition on the council will also rise to the same amount.

In neighbouring Powys, the leader will get £66,727 a year as a larger authorities, an increase of more than £3,700 from £62,998 last year.

The deputy leader will see a pay rise of £2,700 to £46,709 a year with cabinet members taking home £40,036.

Committee chairs and leader of the opposition will rise in line with Monmouthshire to £29,657.

IRPW chairwoman Frances Duffy said: “The Panel believes fair and reasonable levels of remuneration are crucial to local democracy.”

The proposals will now be consulted and before a final report is issued in February next year.According to the IRPW the basic salary, paid to all elected members, is 'remuneration for the responsibility of community representation and participation in the scrutiny, regulatory and related functions of local governance'. It is based on a full time equivalent of three days a week.

The proposed rise in councillors’ pay comes just weeks after a review recommended a wage increase of £10,000 for Monmouthshire County Council's chief executive Paul Matthews after it was revealed that Monmouthshire County Council pays a chief executive salary of £128,008 a year which is among the lower quartile of salaries paid by Welsh councils and neighbouring English authorities

Human resources consultant Anne Phillimore conducted the review and considered options, including paying the chief executive in line with the largest councils in Wales, which would have produced an annual salary of £177,000 to £183,000. She recommended moving the salary into the lower part of the median quartile, of around £138,000 to £148,000.

However she warned future recruitment could still be “difficult” as the post would continue to have a lower salary than some lower tier management posts in other councils and public bodies, staff a replacement would most likely be recruited from.