Politicians on Bath and North East Somerset Council could give themselves a £3,500 pay rise.

An independent panel surveyed councillors and 62 per cent said the current basic allowance was not enough because it failed to reflect the amount of work involved or compensate for lost earnings, and was insufficient to attract candidates to reflect the local population.

Despite the dire state of the council's finances, it has recommended increasing the basic allowance paid to all 59 members incrementally from £7,993 to £11,555 by 2025/26.

Even after the increase B&NES Council members will be behind their 70 Bristol counterparts, who receive a basic allowance of £14,330.

The panel said it was "vital" that councillors are paid appropriately: "Whilst the panel was mindful of the ongoing financial pressures affecting public sector bodies, it also strongly felt that elected representatives should be remunerated fairly for the work that they were undertaking and that in doing so this might encourage a more diverse and broader spectrum of the community to enter public life.

"The current basic allowance has fallen far below comparator councils and the increase in 2020/21 only goes a small way to address this issue."

The council leader, party group leaders and committee panel chairs get paid extra for their special responsibilities.

The panel has made these recommendations that will be voted on by councillors at their annual meeting on May 4:

:The basic allowance should increase to £8,951 in 2021/22 and increase incrementally to £11,555 by 2025/26

:No more than half of all councillors should get a special responsibility allowance

:As is currently the case, councillors with more than special responsibility should only receive 50 per cent of their second special responsibility allowance

:The council leader's allowance should remain at £32,445 – above the average of £30,073 when benchmarked against other councils but way below the £79,468 paid to the Bristol mayor – while the sum for the deputy leader and cabinet members should stay at £19,484

:The chair of the planning committee's allowance should remain at £14,314 and the vice chair should receive £3,578. The panel noted the "significance of remote working and the impact of social media comments that need to be addressed"

:The allowance for the chairs of the licensing subcommittee and the Avon Pension Fund Committee should remain at £5,052, and pension fund committee members should continue to receive £3,817

:The allowance for scrutiny panel chairs should stay at £7,952

:The council chair's allowance should remain at £9,543 (below the £12,487 average) and the vice chair's at £2,418 (less than half the average of £5,003)

: Political group leaders currently receive £428 per member. The panel said they should get £2,238 for governance plus a proportion of the basic allowance depending how many members they have

:All of the figures should be uprated annually on the basis of any headline percentage increase agreed by the National Joint Council for Local Government

:The availability of support for carers should be made clearer in trying to attract and retain councillors from the broad spectrum of the community.

If approved, the recommendations will increase the overall net spend on members' allowances in 2021/22 by £36,817.