Councillors in Middlesbrough will next week vote on whether they should receive more money for their roles. The town’s councillors are being recommended to increase their basic allowance from its current level of £7,608 to the Teesside average of £8,999. If approved, all other allowances, including for serving as the chair of a committee, would remain at the 2024 level.
Following the 2025 review of members’ allowances, the Independent Panel on Members’ Remuneration has recommended an increase of £1,391 to the basic allowance, provided to all 46 councillors and the elected mayor, while special responsibility allowances would remain frozen. Councillors are being asked to consider the panel’s recommendations, and, if rejected, the council will need to create its own allowances scheme.
The authority is required to publish a members scheme of allowances on an annual basis, and allowances should reflect the level of work, time and commitment of the role of councillor. Middlesbrough councillors are currently the most poorly remunerated in the Tees Valley, receiving almost £3,000 less a year than their Redcar and Cleveland counterparts.
Documents say: “The panel wants to convey to members that when considering allowances, it has strong regard for the current socioeconomic conditions for local authorities; recent pay settlements for Middlesbrough Council employees; whether the levels of remuneration reflect the responsibilities and commitment expected of members and if they are set at levels which also recognise the well-established principle of voluntary unpaid public service.”
The panel’s previous 2024 recommendation was to increase the basic allowance to meet the Teesside average and not reflect staff inflationary pay awards. However, this recommendation was rejected by councillors and the basic allowance has remained the same since 2022, according to documents going in front of full council on Wednesday, 10 September.
Middlesbrough councillors are the worst-remunerated in the Tees Valley, with 2025 figures showing that the best-off are in Redcar and Cleveland, at £10,527, followed by Stockton at £9,300, then Darlington at £9,228, and Hartlepool at £8,330. Even if councillors in Middlesbrough accept the near £1,400 uplift, they would still be the second-worst-off in the Tees Valley.
The North East average basic allowance for councillors is £11,127 in 2025. Potential consequences of keeping the basic allowance at current levels in Middlesbrough include discouraging a wider demographic standing for council, a point Conservative Councillor David Coupe previously made to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Meanwhile, independent Councillor Joan McTigue is staunchly against any increase in allowances. Earlier this year, she said: “It’s not a job… It’s a voluntary position. Lots of other voluntary positions don’t get anything at all. I’m perfectly happy with what I got.”
If councillors agree to the recommendations, this would increase the total basic allowance spending from £357,576 to £422,953 – an increase of £65,377. It is noted that the panel acts independently from the council and neither council officers nor elected members have any influence.
Documents also point out that the spend for special responsibility allowances has increased by £27,975 between May 2024 and May 2025 (owing to the appointment of additional executive members by Labour Mayor Chris Cooke, along with the creation of an additional scrutiny panel). As such, papers explain that if the recommendations are approved the total combined allowances spend would be £655,087 (with special allowances totalling £232,134).
