National politicians have a bad reputation right now over their finances. Leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg MP, has called for a complete over-haul of the system; media coverage is here.

Here in local government, the numbers are very small, yet some people still think that councillors are in it for the money! My annual allowances is about to be published; this is what they will show:

£7,956 Annual allowance (effectively a salary)

£41.10 Travel expenses (one train journey and a few buses I think)

I choose to work only four days per week at my ‘real job’, so my allowance compensates for lost earnings and pays for all the evenings and weekends I spend on council work. From it, I also pay for my laptop, letters and postage, plus all of those Focus leaflets we use to communicate with!

The allowances will also be published with an attendance list of meetings. In the last 12 months I have been to all four Full Council meetings and both of the Regulatory (Access) Committee meetings. In addition to my normal panels, I have also sat on five Planning Committees, three Corporate Audit panels and been to one meeting of the Enterprise & Economic Overview and Scrutiny panel.

A quick sum suggests a rate of £500 per meeting; I hope that you will have noticed that I do a bit more than that for the money!