COUNCILLORS in Southampton are considering awarding themselves huge pay rises of up to 325 per cent - 130 times that being offered to its main workforce.

Allowances for the council leader, Cabinet members and others with special responsibilities would rocket under pay proposals from an independent panel.

Tory council leader Councillor Alec Samuels would see his leader's allowance go up by 83 per cent from £13,660 to £25,000, putting him on £35,293 including his basic allowance.

Cabinet members would get 75 per cent rises to £15,000 plus the £10,293 basic allowance, while Labour and Liberal Democrat opposition group leaders on the deadlocked city council would see their £6,133 allowance rise to £8,000 - a 30 per cent hike.

But the largest rises would be handed out to committee chairmen, where former mayor Lib Dem councillor John Slade would see his £3,080 allowance go up by 325 per cent to £10,000 for his role on the planning and rights of way panel.

Other regulatory panel chairmen will get 260 per cent rises to £8,000.

However, the £10,293 basic allowance received by every councillor would remain untouched and go up in line with the minimum wage.

Mike Schofield, from Is It Fair?, a council tax campaign group, said: "The numbers are horrendous. It's unbelievable.

"How can they justify these huge increases?"

Unison branch secretary Mike Tucker, who is in pay talks for council staff, added: "Given that national employers are only offering 2.47 per cent for some councillors to have their allowances massively increased does seem very disproportionate."

The proposed rises would put Cllr Samuels on par with the leader of Hampshire County Council, Ken Thornber who claimed a leader's allowance of £27,239 last year on top of a basic £11,286, a total of £38,525.

However, Mr Schofield pointed out Hampshire was a far larger authority with a budget of £599m compared to Southampton's £164m.

He said: "I get the impression they do this to leap frog each other to jack up each other's allowances."

Mr Schofield added that some councillors were also members of other outside bodies, which attracted allowances, and many also hold full-time jobs.

The pay proposals came from an independent remuneration panel which meets to make recommendations on the council's member allowance scheme.

The recommendations will be considered by the council's standards and governance committee and then by full council later this month. They would come into force on October 1.

Council mayor Cllr Stephen Barnes-Andrews, who chairs the governance committee, said: "They have obviously compared us with what other councils are paying out. Maybe we are out of step. I will have to look at the papers before I can comment."