Draft Annual Remuneration Report 2027-28
The Commission has published its Draft Annual Remuneration Report for 2027-28, and the consultation on it is now open until 17 December.
You can read the foreword and introduction below, and you can access the full report here, or as a download link at the bottom of this page.
Foreword
As Chair of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru, I am pleased to introduce this Draft Annual Remuneration Report for 2027-28. This report sets out the Commission’s proposed determinations for the remuneration, expenses and benefits payable to elected and co-opted members across Wales’ principal councils, community and town councils, fire and rescue authorities, national park authorities and corporate joint committees.
This is an important point in the Commission’s work on remuneration. The 2027 local government elections provide an appropriate opportunity to review the framework and consider whether it continues to support effective, accessible and representative local democracy in Wales.
The draft determinations in this report seek to balance a number of considerations: the responsibilities and time commitment expected of members; the importance of removing barriers to participation in public life; the need to protect the value of remuneration from erosion by inflation; and the pressures on public finances. We have considered the senior roles framework and the future approach to annual uprating.
We are particularly keen to hear views on the use of the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs as the basis for this year’s uprating. The Commission will consider all representations carefully before making its final determinations.
I would like to thank members, officers, representative bodies and partner organisations who have contributed to our work to date. Their evidence and experience are essential to ensuring that the remuneration framework remains robust, proportionate and fit for purpose. I encourage all those with an interest in local democracy in Wales to respond to this consultation.
Karen Jones
Chair
Introduction
This is the Commission’s second draft annual remuneration report. In writing this report, being the one immediately prior to the May 2027 local government elections, we have considered whether any major changes are required to the framework. We have concluded that none are required at this time. This means that this draft report for 2027-28 includes uprating amounts where appropriate but leaves the framework
unchanged.
Senior roles
The Commission surveyed authorities, their members and representative bodies to ascertain whether the current framework of remuneration for those with senior roles appropriately recognises the time commitment and responsibilities of those roles.
We received a mix of views, ranging from no change to a wide-ranging reform of local government in Wales. There was no consensus for any specific change to the current framework.
Without sufficient evidence or agreement for any specific changes, the Commission has decided that there will be no changes at this time to the senior roles’ framework.
The Commission is aware that executive role holders are involved in a range of regional bodies. We will review the impact of these in the coming period.
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
ASHE has been used for a number of years to determine the basic salary of elected members of principal councils, and other remuneration calculated from that figure.
The figure used was three fifths of the median gross weekly earnings for those living in Wales. It was felt that using this figure aligned remuneration of elected members with the earnings of those living in Wales. Three fifths was chosen because research showed that
councillors were, on average, devoting at least three days each week to the role.
The publication of ASHE falls behind the work schedule of the Commission in making its determinations. The figure the Commission used to determine remuneration for our 2026-27 Annual Remuneration Report was for April 2024. This meant it was two years old by the time our determinations came into force. The Office for National Statistics publishes the figure in October of each year. This is too late for us to consider the most current data in our Draft Annual Remuneration Report.
We have looked at other measures of cost of living and wage increases, as published by the Office for National Statistics. The Commission considers that the intention of increases to remuneration is to ensure that elected members do not bear increased costs caused by changes to the cost of living whilst they carry out their public role. We consider that a measure relating to the cost of living is appropriate. The rate commonly used for measuring increases to the cost of living is the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupier costs (CPIH). The latest figure for this at the time of drafting this report is the May 2026 figure of 3%.
Having considered a wide range of possible measures, the Commission has applied this increase to most remuneration levels within its remit, as noted in each determination.
We have also considered a number of other factors within the current remuneration framework.
Corporate Joint Committees (CJC)
CJCs are a relatively new type of body introduced by the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 20212. Each of the four committees are made up the leaders of the principal councils within its area and the chair of any national park authority that lies wholly or partly within its boundary. These leaders are in receipt of remuneration for their role within their respective bodies.
Each committee has established a number of sub-committees to deal with specialist areas and in one instance a Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee. These are made up of councillors and co-opted members.
The Commission consulted on whether any additional remuneration is appropriate to reflect the additional time commitment and responsibilities relating to CJCs, or whether the time and responsibilities of these roles forms part of their wider executive responsibilities. The responses lead us to the conclusion that we need to carry out more specific research in this area before making any determination, which it will carry out during the coming year, and include any determination in our 2028-29 annual report.
Co-opted and lay members
The IRPW last uprated the remuneration of co-opted members of principal councils, national park authorities (NPA) and fire and rescue authorities (FRA) in its 2022 annual report and included lay members of corporate joint committees (CJC) in its 2024 supplementary report. The rates had been linked to the public appointment rates paid by Welsh Government, which have not been uprated in some years.
The Welsh Government review of these rates has been completed. Rates for bodies in Band 2, with which the IRPW rates had been aligned, were increased to £205 per day for ordinary members.
The Commission considers that an increase to rates is appropriate at this time so that their value is not eroded by increases to the cost of living, and will apply the same 3% increase to co-opted and lay member rates as it does to elected members.
Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs)
Following the Order to reform the governance of Wales’ FRAs5, we published our Draft Supplementary Remuneration Report: Fire and Rescue Authorities on 3 July 2026. We have proposed the following remuneration rates for FRA members.
Chair
Daily rate: £348
Up to 4 hours rate: £174
Hourly rate: £43.50
Deputy or Committee Chair
Daily rate: £322
Up to 4 hours rate: £161
Hourly rate: £40.25
Board Member
Daily rate: £292
Up to 4 hours rate: £146
Hourly rate: £36.50
On 13 July 2026 the Welsh Government announced that intervention in South Wales Fire and Rescue Service would be extended until after the May 2027 local elections.
Council executive members have been nominated to join a transition committee for South Wales FRA, rather than the board membership role described in the Order. They will advise the Commissioners rather than having an executive role for the time being.
The Welsh Government intends to implement the new governance arrangements for all three FRAs after the 2027 local elections.
The Commission will take account of this temporary change in role and the timing of the introduction of the new governance arrangements when making its determinations for remuneration of FRA roles, which it intends to publish by 25 September 2026.
IRPW guidance
A number of IRPW determinations, many relating to the publication of councils’ remuneration, had been moved from annual reports into guidance, published in February 2024.
The Commission has reviewed this guidance, and is making draft determinations which update it, including changes which reflect the legislative basis for our work now being included in the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru etc. Act 2013.
Engagement
We will continue the Panel’s engagement with the Welsh Local Government Association, One Voice Wales, the Society of Local Council Clerks, and the North & Mid Wales Association of Local Councils as the representative bodies across the local government family, as well as individual authorities, and consider their views in reaching our determinations, whilst continuing to take account of the impact of our decisions on the
budgets of authorities.
Resettlement
Section 69D of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru etc. Act 2013 requires us to make determinations in relation to resettlement payments to members of local authorities who fail to get re-elected at the 2027 local elections. However, this requirement is dependent on Welsh Ministers making regulations to determine the relevant local authorities and it has now been indicated that these will not be made. For this reason, this report makes no proposals in relation to this matter.
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