THE salary paid to councillors in East Renfrewshire “does not cut the mustard,” the Scottish Government has been told, with local authority chiefs urging ministers to take a “realistic look” at their wages.

Leaders at Cosla, which represents East Renfrewshire Council and Scotland’s 31 other local authorities, have called for the amount elected members are paid to be brought in line with the Real Living Wage.

The current salary for a councillor is £18,604 and they work an average of 38 hours per week in their role – the equivalent of a full-time job.

More than two-fifths of councillors who took part in Cosla’s survey reported having a second job, working an average of 25 hours per week at this.

Cosla said the study highlights “the insufficiency of current remuneration for the responsibilities of the modern councillor” and “the necessity for councillors to have an additional source of income.”

It complained the current salary is less than the Real Living Wage of £9.90 per hour, which equates to an annual salary of £19,562 for a 38-hour week.

Alison Evison, Cosla president, said: “The time has come for a realistic look at the remuneration for the role of a councillor.

“All of us within local government want to harness the power of a more locally democratic way of doing things, to enable a more diverse range of voices at the decision-making table and to overhaul participation in council policy-making across the country – but people need to be properly remunerated to make this rhetoric a reality.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Since 2017, councillors’ pay has increased annually in line with the percentage increase in the median annual earnings of public sector workers.

“The government is open to working with Cosla to further consider this issue.”