Wednesday June 3rd 2026
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
West Lothian’s councillors were paid a total in the 25/26 financial year of more than £1m.
The money covers salary and miscellaneous expenses, which have to be published before the end of June each year.
The paperwork was on the agenda for information during a short meeting of the council’s Executive this week.
Councillors agreed the item should be tabled following a request by the council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick that it should be heard in the public interest.
There was no comment from councillors as the paper was agreed.
Travel expenses were the main claims made by councillors with more than £4,500 claimed in total.
As council leader, Councillor Fitzpatrick is the highest paid councillor on a salary of £50,063.04. He claimed a total of £1,233.60 in expenses.
The Provost, Cathy Muldoon was paid £37,548 as civic head. She claimed total expenses of £2,602.25.
Peter Heggie, the conservative Depute Provost earned a salary of £37,059 as a senior councillor and chair of the Education Quality Assurance Committee and the Performance Committee. He claimed £503.60 in total expenses.
Conservative group leader Damian Doran-Timson also earned a senior councillor’s wage of £37,059 as chair of the Governance and Risk Committee.
Councillor Janet Campbell, SNP opposition group leader earned £25,982.04, the standard council salary, plus expenses of £1,233.23.
Seventeen councillors made no expenses claims.
Councillors’ salaries are set by the Scottish Government. In 2025, following a review by the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC) all councillors are considered now in a full time job, with a hefty £4,000 plus hike added to the basic salary and £7,000 added to the council leader’s salary.
The Holyrood set wage scale took the basic salary for a West Lothian councillor from £21,345 to £25,982.
The review was the first in almost a decade, and the first to take account of the growth of social media and its knock-on effect on councillors’ workload.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service highlighted at the time: “The growth of social media is largely behind the increased workload for councillors – and the main platform for criticism “with the majority also facing on-line personal criticism”.
A report the Executive said: ” A copy of the records of payments made in accordance with the Regulations from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 is set out in Appendix 1. All amounts are stated gross before any deductions for Income Tax and National Insurance.”
The full list of salaries and expenses can be found here: https://coins.westlothian.gov.uk/coins/viewDoc.asp?c=e%97%9Db%8Eny%90%8B
Tweet Share on FacebookNews
