STAFF at Penrith Town Council are set to receive another 3.3 per cent pay increase, backdated to April, with the additional cost being met from the council's budget funded by Penrith households following a 3.2% increase last year that was also backdated to the start of the year.
Councillors will be told at Monday's full council meeting that the new rates of pay will be implemented at the end of October, with the increases backdated to 1 April 2026.
The council's meeting papers state that the new rates of pay and backdated increases will be paid to council staff at the end of October, adding that the approved 2026/27 town council budget "provides fully for the new rates of pay".
Penrith Town Council currently employs a Town Clerk, Business Services Manager, Responsible Financial Officer, Solicitor/Planning Clerk, Event Manager and a Community Services Manager.
The council's annual staffing costs are budgeted at £366,435,accounting for around 75 per cent of the total annual precept paid by Penrith households through their council tax bills.
The scale of the monthly bill for employing the council's staff is also set out in its financial figures.
In August 2026, net pay for town council staff totalled £16,459.56 A further £7,980.50 was paid to HMRC for PAYE and National Insurance, while £3,747.88 was paid into the Cumbria Local Government Pension scheme.
That brought the total staffing cost for August alone to £28,186,94
The council's budget, agreed in January, had provided for a 3.2per cent increase in staff salaries.
The new 3.3 per cent increase means some Town Council employees will now have gross monthly salaries approaching £4,000 a month.
The pay increase will be noted by the full council on Monday, although councillors are being asked to note the changes rather than debate or determine the level of the pay increases..
The Town Clerk as the town council lead officer picking up over £50,000 a year has not attended a meeting of Penrith Town Council for over a year with other staff attending meeting in place of the town clerk.
The latest figures mean that staffing remains by far the largest element of the Town Council's spending, with hundreds of thousands of pounds each year ultimately funded through the precept paid by local council tax payers.
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