A DEBATE on whether allowances paid to Worcester city councillors should be increased further after they asked for the figures to be reviewed has been put on hold.

They want the panel that looks into the rate of wages to reconsider how long each member spends on council business.

The independent county-wide group concluded that backbench councillors and cabinet members work, on average, for 10 hours a week, with the leader working 25 hours.

With an hourly wage set at £10.40 the yearly sums councillors would receive varied from £3,445 to £11,557, in line with the four per cent increase the panel believed was the average annual wage increase in Worcestershire.

"I don't think the panel can have considered adequate evidence to come to these conclusions," said Coun Paul Denham, adding that work put in by cabinet members and the chairman of the licensing committee had been underestimated.

The council last night voted to defer the item until the New Year to allow comments to be passed to the panel.