Councillors’ allowances and expenses have totalled more than £1 million, according to figures released today (Tuesday 30 June).
The total claimed by members of Brighton and Hove City Council for 2025-26 is £58,528 more than the previous year, an increase of 5.5 per cent, to £1,068,146,78.
The latest increase is a smaller percentage than in 2024-25 when allowances and expenses went up by 14 per cent or £124,000 to £1,009,628.34.
This is the second year that allowances and expenses have topped £1 million. The total figure for 2023-24 was £885,472.14 and in 2022-23 it was £912,640.37.
Each councillor received a basic allowance of £14,609.40 while the leader, deputy leaders, cabinet members, cabinet advisers, committee chairs and leader of the opposition received special responsibility allowances.
Some money is deducted to cover the cost of bus passes or parking permits.
The highest amount was paid to the Labour council leader Bella Sankey. She received £53,705.15. This included a special responsibility allowance of £37.984.56.
Councillor Sankey, who has two young children, also claimed £668.50 in dependent carer allowance and £442.69 in travel and subsistence.
Members can claim for childcare, paid at the real living wage of £12.60 an hour, but no more than the amount paid for the childcare for each child for the duration of meetings plus an hour for travel to and from meetings.
The second highest payment went to the Labour deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor. He received a special responsibility allowance of £18,863.05 and claimed no other expenses, taking his total to £33,472.45.
His fellow deputy council leader Tim Rowkins received the same allowances but had £390.43 deducted for either a bus pass or parking permit.
Green councillor Ellen McLeay, who has a young child, was the only other councillor to claim the dependent carer allowance. She claimed £81.75.
Labour councillor Alison Thomson was the only other councillor to claim for travel and subsistence totalling £99.70.
The allowances scheme includes special responsibility payments to the mayor, deputy mayor, cabinet members, cabinet advisers, committee chairs and the Labour group chief whip.
Total allowances came to £785,604.39, special responsibility payments to £393,365.65 and deductions for councillors provided with parking permits or bus passes to £7,556.54.
While some councillors are retired and receive pensions, many are working age and some put their careers on hold to undertake the voluntary role of councillor which is nominally part-time.
They are not paid a salary for being a councillor. The allowances are intended to go some way towards covering the costs of carrying out their duties.
The leader’s allowance of almost £38,000 is a fraction of the salary paid to chief executive Jess Gibbons which was £200,982 plus a pension contribution of £39,794, making a total of £240,776, according to the council’s latest statement of accounts.
Does this include all the extra payments Councillors can claim for sitting on boards and committees A recent FOI declined to release this figure.
Also, how and why was Ms Sankey allowed to appoint a second deputy leader? We could save around 40k pa by shedding Councillor Jacob Taylor and going back to one. He has far too much power for one councillor.
We are not hear to pay for his career ambitions. Or hers.
Yep, that’s the special responsibility allowance.
Good point James. Why would a Bank of America Director even want to be a local Councillor? Won’t he be on some massive whack and expected to work 13 hours six days a week in the city?
Maybe he loves Brighton and wants it to be better? More motivating things in life than just money!
Yeah. Right. How DOES an individual appear from nowhere, become Deputy Leader of both the City Council and the local Labour party, after being a first time Councillor for only three weeks? Abracadabra?
I think the premise of “appearing from nowhere” is the fatal flaw there, although I think there’s a point in there about electing councillors who are deeply involved in their communities as a natural progression.
To your other point, Ward Councillors aren’t blank canvas, they come from diverse backgrounds and provide a variety of skillsets and passions. Some of those will naturally fit into leadership roles, others into specific focuses. It’s down to the individual parties to decide who is best for each role within their groups.
And meanwhile they routinely ignore laws, hand special deals to a few companies without public tenders, abuse and threaten residents and lie on the public record. Time for change. We have had enough of the sleaze.
It’s clear they do this for the money although it’s not a salary it’s still a hefty sum coming in anybody on a salary has to pay for their transport, their childcare and their food while they’re at work all day but these lot don’t unbelievable cushy number and Bella Sankey is the worst one
It really isn’t a large sum at all. If you were to convert that to an hourly rate, most of them would be under the minimum wage. You don’t get rich being a councillor, and most of them have qualifications to work in much higher paid jobs.
It’s clear they do it for more than just money, Charles.
Stop these payments and pay it towards the 53 million that they have to pay back for the botched and scandalous decision making on the I360 instead of the people of Brighton having to pay on there rates . Need to be all accountable in there positions… put in jail
Ridiculous. If you went ahead and did that, you’d have councils that are run only by those who could afford to, and that becomes the very definition of an autocracy.
Just wait until Andy Burnham takes power away from Government to give it Local Government, causing the whole system to be unworkable, processes duplicated many times over, and we end up with the UKs most inept workforce running the country when legitimate private businesses all go into liquidation.
I’m dreading what is to come.
I’m looking forward for the day Andy Burnham takes power away from Government and gives it to Strategic Authorities, causing the system to be much better, processes focused for the region-specific needs, and in control of people who know the area rather than an ivory tower.
I’m excited about what is to come.
More politicians
More expenses
More ivory towers
Can’t wait.
As Burnham admitted himself when he visited parliament and someone shouted “He’s not the messiah!” and he replied “I’m just a very naughty boy!” If the rumours are true, he may not even make it to his “coronation” once various alleged skeletons start tumbling out of his cupboard.
That…or it’s just a bit of brevity from one fan of Monty Python to another! 🙃
For that amount Jess Gibbons needs to tell us what she does each day
It’s pretty aligned for the size and complexity of BHCC compared to other similars.
To earn more than the Prime Minister, she should be on performance related pay.
They usually do in terms of bonus packages. You get CEOs with lower base rate, but then the bonuses is weighted more. I actually don’t know how that is structured for Gibbins. PM gets a number of bonuses beyond the base rate as well, so the number is not the full picture.
Benjamin, do you ever read your own comments? Under almost every article you’re there, confidently handing down judgments as if you’ve been appointed Brighton’s chief explainer. The only problem is you’re just another anonymous commenter. Nobody elected you to be the council’s unofficial spokesperson, and your opinions don’t carry any more weight than anyone else’s.
It’s the same routine every time: dismiss criticism, defend the establishment, tell everyone they’re being “ridiculous”, then congratulate yourself for being the only person capable of “nuance”. It comes across less as informed debate and more as someone desperate to sound authoritative.
People are perfectly capable of making up their own minds without being lectured by an anonymous internet commenter who behaves as though their opinion settles every argument. If you actually engaged with the criticisms instead of talking down to everyone, your comments might be worth taking seriously. As it stands, it’s just the same predictable performance under every article.
AI generated ad-hominem.
Unfortunately, if that’s the quality of the argument against my own opinions, no wonder you think it’s domineering. Steel tempers steel, steel cuts through paper without fuss.
Brighton’s chief explainer and Nick Cave fan didn’t like that, James.