Councillor pay is set to rise again by more than £1,000 per year from next April for the third year in a row, with a draft report suggesting a move to taking the basic salary of all members to more than £21,000 despite the increasing pressure on councils to cut services and raise council tax in a bid to balance the books.

The basic pay of a county councillor in Ceredigion, Powys, Gwynedd and Pembrokeshire will rise by 6.4 per cent - more than £1,000 a year - from £19,771 to the new figure of £21,044 from 31 March 2026 if the recommendations in a draft report from the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru are accepted following a consultation.

Last year, councillor’s pay rose by more than £1,000, when it jumped to £19,771 from £18,666.

That, and previous rises, were recommended by the Independent Remuneration Panel of Wales (IRPW).

The functions of the IRPW were transferred to the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru in April.

The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru will now set councillor pay each year after taking over from the IRPW.

The commission suggests the more than £1,000 a year pay lift for next year on the back of a rise of £1,000 last year, the year before that, and a 17 per cent hike in salary for all councillors for 2020 in a bid to bring councillor pay in line with average earnings in order to attract a wider range of candidates to fill the roles.

In 2019, a county councillor took home £13,868 a year for carrying out their duties.

In 2026 – just seven years later - despite deepening cuts to services and double digit council tax rises for residents - that figure is set to be more than £7,000 a year higher than it was in 2019.

The commission said the councillor salary will continue to be aligned with three fifths of the all-Wales annual salary.

The commission also sets out another round of bumper pay rises for councillors with extra responsibilities.

In Ceredigion, the council’s leader is line for a more than £4,000 a year pay rise, pocketing £67,079 a year from next year – up from £63,020 this year.

Last year, the council leader – currently Cllr Bryan Davies – saw a £3,522 a year pay rise, bringing the pay for the role up to his current level.

The deputy leader’s pay will rise by more than £2,500 a year to £46,955 following a similar pay hike last year, while the salary for Ceredigion County Council cabinet members will all take home £40,247 a year from April, up from £37,812.

Ceredigion cabinet members were given a £2,100 increase just last year.

Committee chairs will receive a pay boost up to £31,567 a year, while the pay for the leader of the opposition on the council will also rise to the same amount.

In Gwynedd, Powys and Pembrokeshire, the leaders of those councils will get £71,025 a year, a pay rise of more than £4,000.

Gwynedd, Powys and Pembrokeshire are classed as Group B larger authorities with populations between 100,000 and 200,000, where Ceredigion resides in Group C with smaller councils with a population of less than 100,000.

This year, leaders of Pembrokeshire, Powys and Gwynedd Councils earned £66,727 a year, which was an increase of more than £3,700 from £62,998 the previous year.

Deputy leaders in Gwynedd, Pembrokeshire and Powys will see a pay rise of more than £3,000 to bring their annual wage up to £49,717 from next year.

They saw a similar £2,700 pay rise to £46,709 a year last year.

Cabinet members in Gwynedd, Pembrokeshire and Powys will take home £42,615 a year, up from £40,036 last year.

Committee chairs and leader of the opposition will rise in line with Ceredigion to £31,567 a year from £29,657 last year.

The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru report said: “The basic salary, paid to all elected members, is remuneration for the responsibility of community representation and participation in the scrutiny, regulatory and related functions of local governance.

“It is based on a full time equivalent of three days a week.

“The Commission has reviewed this time commitment, and no changes are proposed for 2026-27.

“The Commission is fully aware of the current constraints on public funding and the impact its decisions will have on the budgets of principal councils.

“The Commission is also mindful of our aims and objectives to provide a fair and reasonable remuneration package to support elected members and to encourage diversity of representation.”

Beverley Smith, Chair of The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru, said: “It is important that we recognise the contribution of those who represent us.

“This area of work contributes to the wider role of the Commission in supporting the democratic health of Wales.

“This is the first draft report since this important area of work was added to our remit.

“This role previously resided with the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales.

“I would like to thank the Panel members for handing over a robust remuneration framework and to also thank them and the Welsh Government for their support in the transfer of the work to the Commission.

The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru report said: “The link with average Welsh earnings has been maintained for principal councils.

“The Commission considers maintaining links with average earnings is key in balancing fairness for each elected member and affordability for local authorities.

“Average earnings are calculated by reference to the Annual Survey for Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024 published by the Office for National Statistics.

“The Commission therefore proposes a basic annual salary of £21,044.

“In line with the rise in average earnings the increase in the basic annual salary is 6.4 per cent.

“The Commission considers holders of leader and executive member posts to have significant functional responsibility and therefore the role element of their remuneration is similarly increased in line with average earnings.

“The main remuneration allowances for community and town councils remain the same.”

The commission said that the next report, due next year, will examine several other topics, including payments for councillors who lose their roles at election time.

The report said the commission will “consider resettlement payments for those elected members who lose their seats at an election”, and that it will also “be reviewing the framework for how senior roles are remunerated in principal councils and corporate joint committees to ensure that it remains fit for purpose.”

The commission said it will also be “looking at the measure we use to decide the annual uprating of remuneration levels to assess whether or not it remains the most relevant index for us to use, and to reassess members workloads.”

“The next report, for 2027-28, which we are required to publish by the end of February 2027, will update the framework for those members who will be elected at the May 2027 local elections,” the commission said.

The full proposals are now open for an eight-week consultation which runs until 18 November.