WORCESTER city councillors have voted to freeze their allowances for the next year because of the severe financial pressure on the council.

The Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) which is responsible for recommending rises in members' allowances, had suggested councillors could introduce a rise of 2.5 per cent for 08/09.

However, at a meeting of the city cabinet council leader Councillor Simon Geraghty said: "The budget this year will not allow us to fund a 2.5 per cent increase.

"I recommend we note the report but we have not got the resources to be able to fund the elements of the report this year, so there will be a freeze in the members allowances at the current rate for this year." Members of the cabinet agreed to the freeze.

However, during the meeting Coun Adrian Gregson asked Coun Geraghty to reconsider his decision to bring in an extra cabinet member in May 2006, taking the number to seven. Coun Gregson said: "Can we have figures which demonstrate what costs would be if there was one less cabinet member? It would be helpful to have the statistics."

Coun Geraghty said: "I have no intention of changing members of the cabinet or the cabinet posts. I don't intend to bring forward reports on any of these issues."

Councillors' basic allowance is £3,775, while five cabinet members and the deputy leader gets £5,662 and the council leader gets £9,437.