Council staff in Walsall are to get a 1% pay rise as a thank you for their efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
From 1 April, the lowest pay grade will go up from £17,665 to £17,842, the authority, which has set aside just over £1m to cover the costs, says.
The decision, which does not include education staff who are directly employed by schools under the academy status, follows a move to increase councillor allowances.

Mike Bird, leader of the Conservative-run council, said "the time had come" to acknowledge the work done by councillors and council staff.
"It has been extremely difficult and continues to be so to work from home. It isn’t as easy as people would think," he said.
Labour group leader, Aftab Nawaz, added: "During this real hard time, we’ve seen our staff go far above and beyond what they’ve done before.
"They sometimes aren’t given the recognition that they should be by the public."