Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is planning a funding increase of 78.68 per cent for the mayor’s office.

The draft budget proposals for 2026/27, which are currently out for consultation, include a major rise in Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen’s office budget, most of which is set aside for paying employees.

TVCA has attributed the increase to “a previous period of understaffing”.

The total mayoral office budget will rise from £272,000 in the current financial year (2025/26) to £486,000 in the upcoming financial year, from April 1.

The sum is broken down into different categories, with the big change coming in expenditure on employees, which is set to see funding increase from £263,000 to £452,000, providing that the budget is approved later this month, following the current period of consultation. 

The total mayoral office budget figure then rises by £12,000 to £13,0000 each year within the medium term financial plan, which can be put down almost entirely to expected pay awards for employees in Mayor Houchen’s office.

The other changes from this current financial year to 2026/27, within the mayoral office budget, include an increase from £9,000 to £13,000 in the transport budget, while new features for the upcoming year see £1,000 assigned for “supplies and services” and £20,000 for “support services charge”.

TVCA was contacted about the large increase in the mayoral office budget.

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A spokesperson said: “This change in budget reflects a previous period of understaffing and an expected move towards more standard staffing levels in future years.

“As the draft budget makes clear these costs are funded directly from central government grants and not from local taxpayers.

"The mayor has repeatedly made clear he will never impose a mayoral tax, unlike in other regions where taxpayers are forced to pay millions of pounds to their combined authority.”

© The Northern Echo