INFLATION-BUSTING pay hikes are coming in for Worcester councillors - with their allowances due to rise before Christmas.

Your Worcester News can reveal how leader Councillor Simon Geraghty will get a whopping 26 per cent increase in his special extra responsibility rate next month to run the city council.

His deputy Marc Bayliss will get an extra 22 per cent while the basic starting payments for being a councillor will increase 5.2 per cent.

The rises have come under attack from the city's lone Green Councillor Neil Laurenson, who said it "sends out the wrong message" to the public.

But it has been unanimously backed by the Conservative and Labour groups who have decided to accept an independent recommendation to put the rates, known as allowances, up.

For the last three years a body known as the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) has advised the city council to increase its allowances by the same amount - with it being rejected each time.

We can reveal how those decisions have saved the public £37,565.

But at the last rejection in February it was decided that the decision should be reviewed before the end of 2015.

The IRP has come back with the same conclusions, saying the role of being a councillor is greater than before and that Worcester's allowances have fallen behind other comparable areas.

They last went up in 2010, when they took six per cent instead of accepting a proposal of 12 per cent, and the allowances have been frozen since then.

Councillor Laurenson told your Worcester News: "When people are struggling to pay their way it sends out the wrong message - it's not great timing.

"If we got more money from the Government maybe let's say 'it's time to contemplate it' but not when budgets are being cut - it's not appropriate."

But Councillor Geraghty said the IRP had "consistently recommended an increase" every year since 2008.

"This is the first time councillors have accepted the recommendation in full since 2008," he added.

Councillor Adrian Gregson, Labour group leader, said: "The (IRP) has recommended an increase for seven years and this is the first time since 2010 that we've done it.

"We decided to do an investigatory report after we refused it in February and it's come back with the same recommendation.

"But that's not for the full year, it's just from December so the cost is negligible."

From December the basic payment goes from £3,990 to £4,200 a year, while Councillor Geraghty's extra special responsibility rate climbs from £9,975 to £12,600.

Councillor Bayliss' extra responsibility rate will go from £5,985 to £7,350 while the additional payments for other cabinet members rises from £5,985 to £6,300.

Councillor Geraghty will also get an extra £1,050 top-up for leading his Conservative group, while Labour group leader Adrian Gregson's add-on will rise from £660 to the same rate, a 59 per cent rise.

The extra allowances for chairing the planning and scrutiny committees will also rise 5.2 per cent to £4,200, currently held by Alan Amos and Joy Squires respectively.

It was voted though during a meeting last night where Rob Key, the independent chair of the IRP, turned up to present the panel's case.

"We fully appreciate the difficulties you've got in looking at your own allowances, but you've got a panel which is confident and experienced," he said.

"You've found yourself in a situation where you've been falling behind."

The move will cost taxpayers £14,087 extra per year, but the allowances remain lower than most other district councils in the region.

* See the IRP report for yourself HERE.