Members of the city council are being encouraged to claim expenses
14:34, 07 Jan 2026Updated 16:18, 07 Jan 2026
Liverpool Town Hall(Image: Getty Images)
City councillors across Liverpool received an increase in their allowance last year with changes expected to be made to expenses claims. An independent panel charged with looking into how much local authority leaders are paid has recommended a series of amendments to the current levels of remuneration.
Each year, elected representatives are given a basic allowance to cover their representative role within each of the 64 wards across Liverpool. In 2025, this went up by 27% after councillors had previously rejected pay increases for the preceding three years.
It has been confirmed allowances increased by 3% last July alongside the same rate for city council staff. This brought the basic level of remuneration for a city councillor would stand at £13,932.
A special responsibility allowance (SRA) is paid to a series of councillors including the city’s leader and deputy leader, cabinet members and committee chairs. The leader of the main opposition group, also receives an additional stipend.
According to documents released ahead of that meeting, the independent remuneration panel has also recommended changes to childcare, dependent carers’ and mileage allowances for city leaders.
Liverpool Town Hall(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
A report set out how councillors are “encouraged to utilise the expenses process to enable them to be reimbursed for the expenses incurred on approved duties”.
Changes have not been made to the rates paid for travel and subsistence for the past two decades.
To ensure members are not prevented from carrying out their duties owing to childcare or dependant care commitments, an allowance will be made available at the rate of the real living wage for childcare up to the age of 13 and upon the production of medical or social care evidence for those helping a dependant.
An allowance of £75 is to be made available for members’ food requirements “for an absence not involving an absence overnight outside of the Liverpool Council boundary, and time away from home on production of receipts”.
The report added: “The panel has previously recommended that councillors claim travel expenses for the costs they incur when undertaking approved duties.
“There is existing provision in the allowance scheme for claiming travel expenses, however in recent years councillors have chosen to not claim expenses.”
The report will be discussed by the council’s governance scrutiny committee next Wednesday.