CITY councillors could be paid at least an extra £140 this year if they agree to give themselves a pay rise.

The independent remuneration panel, which recommends to council’s how much councillors should each receive, has said the basic allowance for Worcester councillors should rise from £4,386 to £4,526.

Worcester City Council was due to meet in full next week with councillors voting on how much they are paid but coronavirus restrictions mean the meeting will take place virtually with a reduced number of councillors.

The council has agreed to put off a decision until September when restrictions are hopefully eased, and all councillors can attend.

Nevertheless, with the current restrictions in place, councillors are expected to agree to freeze pay for most until September when a final decision will be made.

Councillors, as they have done in previous years, may still decide to ignore the panel’s recommendations if it meets in September.

If councillors followed the recommendations of the independent remuneration panel, the leader of the council would receive an extra £350 pushing the yearly pay to £11,315 and the deputy leader of the council would receive an extra £280 as part of a rise to £9,052.

Councillors will be given a number of options including the independent panel’s recommended three per cent pay increase or keeping things as they are.

The report has also recommended that the chairman of the council’s policy and resources committee receives £7,921 – an extra £2,438 a year – and the chairmen of the respective environment and communities committees receives £6,789 each – an increase of £1,306.

The virtual meeting takes place from 7pm on May 19 and will be streamed via the council's website.