A four per cent pay rise for Birmingham councillors has been approved despite a claim the move is 'morally wrong' - while some members are donating the extra income to good causes.

The full council passed recommendations from the Independent Remuneration Panel which will see the basic allowance rise from £16,592 to £17,227.

There will also be a separate four per cent increase for those with 'special responsibilities', such as the leader and cabinet members, and a two per cent rise for the co-optee allowance which includes the chair and members of the Standards committee, and other scrutiny committee members.

Not everyone voted in favour or agreed with the proposals which were justified because of the reduction of council members from 120 to 101 as well as the greater accessibility through things like social media.

Cllr Majid Mahmood (Lab, Bromford and Hodge Hill) described them as 'morally wrong' at a time when local services, council jobs and home care workers' pay were being cut.

He confirmed he would donate the extra income to a death committee in light of controversial increases to burial fees in Birmingham and added: "I am sure not a single member of this chamber put themselves forward for the money but did so to improve the lives of citizens."

Cllr Julien Pritchard (Green, Druids Heath and Monyhull) echoed the sentiment and argued that council workers were not receiving the same increase to their pay.

He said: "Yes we do value the contributions we all make and that work is really important, but so is the work of council staff who work for this city.

"While we are having to do more with less, with fewer councillors representing the same number of people, so are our council staff having to do a lot more with fewer resources and fewer colleagues."

Nicky Brennan, councillor for Sparkhill

Cllr Nicky Brennan (Lab, Sparkhill) confirmed that her extra income, along with Cllr Kerry Jenkins' (Lab, Moseley), would be donated to The Red Box Project which tackles period poverty.

She said: "At a time of austerity it is not a good look for councillors to be awarding themselves pay rises."

The counter argument was that better pay would allow more people from a wider variety of backgrounds to stand as councillors.

Cllr Liz Clements (Lab, Bournville and Cotteridge) stated that the Labour party had campaigned for better representation for over a century.

She added: "Being a member of Birmingham City Council is an honour, it's also a hard job and a time-consuming job if you are doing it properly."

Coun Ian Ward

Council leader Ian Ward (Lab, Shard End) argued that the remuneration panel had a 'thankless task' but pointed out that councillors had not had a pay rise in several years.

He said: "I don't believe anyone in this chamber wants to end in a situation where it is only those who have high paid jobs and can only afford to do the councillor role effectively as moonlighting or indeed those who are retired on a meaningful pension."

In response to the argument about austerity Cllr Ward added: "There are austerity measures in place and cuts being applied to services.

"That has been on-going since 2010 up and down the country.

"Given the current government it is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

"At some point someone has got to say members elected to this chamber, their remuneration has to be increased, we are probably at that point now."

New rates for special responsibility allowances

Council leader - £52,000

Deputy leader - £41,600

Cabinet member - £26,000

Chair of Planning committee - £15,600

Chair of Licensing and Public Protection committee - £15,600

Leader of largest opposition group - £13,000

Chair of an overview and scrutiny committee - £13,000

Deputy leader of largest opposition - £7,280

Chair of Audit committee - £5,200

Chair of Trusts and Charities Committee - £5,200

Leader of other opposition group - £5,200

Deputy leader of other opposition group - £2,600

Shadow cabinet members - £2,600

Political group secretaries - £2,600

New rates for co-optee allowances

Chair of Standards committee - £1,040

Member of an overview and scrutiny committee - £865

Member of Standards committee - £579