A review by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) into the level of allowances paid to members of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) boards is to be considered at a meeting on Friday October 28.

The IRP recommendations include:

• Increasing the annual Mayoral allowance from £79,000 to £95,000
• Setting up a Deputy Mayoral allowance of £31,675 backdated to May 2021
• Suggesting to constituent authorities to set an additional responsibility allowance for Portfolio Leaders of £9,500 a year
• Retaining the allowances of the chair and members of the Transport Delivery Committee (TDC), pending the Transport Governance Review
• Paying the chair of the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee an annual allowance of £9,500
• Paying the chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee £6,650 a year backdated to May 2021

If approved by the WMCA board, the Mayor has communicated to the WMCA’s chief executive that he will not be accepting any increase in his salary and that it will remain at the same level it has been since his election in 2017.

The Deputy Mayor communicated to the chief executive some time ago that while he remained in his current roles as a Solihull councillor and a Solihull Cabinet member, he would only be prepared to take a maximum of £10,000 for the additional role of Deputy Mayor.

The Board will be recommended next Friday to accept all IRP recommendations apart from the suggestion to constituent authorities that they set an additional responsibility allowance for Portfolio Leaders of £9,500.

The Board has instead been recommended to write to Government to request an amendment to WMCA regulations which would give the combined authority the ability to pay its members and co-opted members.

In making its recommendations, the IRP carried out a thorough review of members allowances, including extensive interviews with key stakeholders, and looked at the allowances paid at comparative organisations across the country.

The IRP was made up of the following members:

Professor Steve Leach – Emeritus Professor of Local Government, Department of Politics & Public Policy at De Montfort University, Leicester

Rose Poulter – Birmingham City Council Independent Remuneration Panel Chair

Sylvia Parkin – City of Wolverhampton Council and Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Independent Remuneration Panel member