Pension benefit for councillors
DOZENS of councillors representing wards across Banburyshire are set to receive taxpayer-funded pensions – despite fulfilling supposedly voluntary roles.
A TaxPayers’ Alliance (TA) investigation showed more than 100 councillors representing county and district councils across Banburyshire paid into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) during 2010/ 2011, which is part funded by taxpayers.
TA director Matthew Sinclair said: “It’s unacceptable that ordinary families and pensioners, who have seen council tax bills almost double in the last decade, have so much of their money spent on council pensions. These gold-plated retirement deals have all but disappeared in the private sector and it simply isn’t sustainable to keep the system as it is.”
According to the Government definition, ‘councillors are not paid a salary or wages, but are entitled to allowances and expenses to cover some of the costs of carrying out their public duties’.
However according to the report the number of councillors paying into the LGPS ranged from eight at Cherwell District Council to 54 at Warwickshire County Council. South Northampton- shire and West Oxfordshire District Councils also had councillors contributing, as did Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire county councils. The only authorities which did not have councillors paying into the pension were Stratford-on-Avon and Daventry.
Martin Henry, Cherwell District Council’s director of resources, said: “Membership of the pension scheme is a legal entitlement for all elected councillors. Individual members will determine if they want to be part of the scheme and if so will contribute to it.”
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Friday 01 June 2012
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