The highest-earning councillors have been revealed, as one local authority leader was paid more than £49,000.

Councils in and around Southampton published their annual allowances report for the 2024/25 financial year.

Southampton City Council paid out £892,294.08 in allowances and expenses last year for 60 current and outgoing councillors.

The highest paid was the then leader of the Labour-run council, Cllr Lorna Fielker who received £43,686.70.

Cllr Lorna FielkerCllr Lorna Fielker (Image: Newsquest) Alongside her colleagues, she received the standard allowance of £13,899.96 with an additional £27,800.04 for having a senior role, which is known as a ‘special responsibility allowance’.

She was also paid £1,946.52 as ‘public transport staff’ and £40.18 in subsistence.

Other high earners in the city council included cabinet member for transport Cllr Eamonn Keogh (£27,875.42), Cllr Marie Finn, cabinet member for transport and health (£27,868.07), and Cllr Andy Frampton, cabinet member for housing operations (£28,188.57).

Cabinet members also had an uplift in pay due to having the additional responsibility.

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But the council told the Echo the allowances have in fact been frozen in the last four years.

“Councillors only receive an allowance when they are in office, and the allowances are reported on a financial-year basis”, a spokesperson said.

Satvir Kaur, MP for Southampton Test, and Darren Paffey, MP for Southampton Itchen stepped down as councillors due to their new roles.

The pair were still paid £4,633.32 and £1,382.52 respectively, for their six months (Kaur) and one-month (Paffey) allowances.

Uplift in pay

Neighbouring Eastleigh Borough Council racked up a bill of £463,787 for councillors’ expenses in the last financial year.

This was an increase of £13,142 on the previous year – 2.92 per cent – despite the national increase being recommended as 2.5.

Council leader Keith House pocketed £35,222.21; a larger amount compared to the previous year’s £33,787.88.

Cllr Keith HouseCllr Keith House (Image: Newsquest) Between him and deputy leader Cllr Ian Corben and cabinet member Cllr Tonia Craig, they were paid more than £81,000.

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Councillor allowances are “uplifted in line with the National Joint Council (NJC) pay awards”, the council said, adding: “For 2024-25 it was 3.98 per cent, and council officers have no oversight in how councillors spend their allowances.

“The council leader’s expenses outlined are for mileage and travel expenses for council duties, which are allowable expenses within the councillors’ allowance scheme.”

Leader earns above £49k

At the Conservative-led Hampshire County Council, the leader was also the top earner.

Cllr Nick Adams-King received £32,806.15 in special responsibility allowance alone, on top of his basic allowance of £14,399.04 and expenses of £2379.20 – totalling more than £49,000.

Across the pond in the New Forest, council leader Jill Cleary was paid £32,486.16, which included £745.20 in expenses.

New Forest District Council (NFDC) explained that their basic allowance was based on the average full time gross wage per hour for the NFDC area of £16.67 per hour.

They said: “This is multiplied by a notional 13 hours per week and a 30 per cent public service discount is applied.

“This is indexed annually in line with the national local government pay settlement for staff.”