Council pay offs 'up to £36,000'

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Councillors with 20 years experience standing down as the number of Northern Ireland councils fall could get up to£20,000 in severance payments.

The number of district councils is being reduced from 26 to 11 and the number of councillors will be cut from 582 to about 460 by the end of 2011.

Methods of compensating councillors have gone to public consultation.

One proposes £1,000 per year of service, up to £36,000, and another sets the cap at £20,000.

The level of the award could be determined under a banding system.

COUNCILLOR COMPENSATION <a class="" href="http://www.doeni.gov.uk/index/local_government/local_government_consultations.htm"> Read the consultation documents here </a>

One example the Department of Environment gave was councillors who have served between eight and 10 years could receive £10,000 and councillors who have spent more than 15 years in local government could get £20,000.

Environment Minister Sammy Wilson said the executive had proposed severance arrangements "as a way of recognising the contribution long serving councillors who choose to stand down, have made to their local area and to Northern Ireland as a whole".

"The consultation document puts forward a number of options for possible severance arrangements, including the calculation of the amount of money that could be paid to an individual councillor, the timing of any scheme and how the associated costs should be met," he said.

The consultation also asks if the scheme should be introduced in January 2010 to enable a new crop of councillors to gain one year's experience before the reorganisation of local government.

Councillors who are assembly members, MPs, Members of the House of Lords and MEPs would be deemed ineligible for severance.

Councillors who receive severance but then return to local government should be required to repay it in full, the consultation document said.