Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Council pay rises for top roles branded ‘out of touch’
Councillors have been accused of being “completely out of touch with constituents” after agreeing pay rises averaging £10,000 for a number of its most senior officers.
The move is part of a restructuring of North Lanarkshire’s senior management team, which reduces the overall number of chief officers from 21 to 18 and generates an annual saving of more than £208,000 for the local authority.
However, Conservative members have hit out at the decision, with group leader Meghan Gallacher saying “it just doesn’t make sense” in the light of budget cuts and service reductions and the group insisting that the £177,000 cost of the wage rises should also be redirected to communities.
Conservative group business manager Sandy Watson, the Airdrie South councillor, said: “People across North Lanarkshire who constantly hear that their council has had its budget slashed will be astonished that this was a top priority at this moment.
“Many people are worried about keeping their jobs, or worse have already lost them – yet the council try and justify giving thousands more to their heads of service. While restructuring of services is necessary, it should not have been coupled with a pay increase for nonelected officials in the current economic climate.”
Airdrie North representative David Cullen, the group’s assistant business manager, added: “This money should have been used for other things and it creates a significant gap of £30,000 between chief officers and the next level of management below.
“The heads of service will be taking on roles as community board champions, but there isn’t an automat i c s a l a r y rise ever y time there’s a change to the role and strategy is already in the job description.
“We put forward an amendment that this money should have gone back to the delivery of community services and we wanted senior officer salaries to come back before councillors in the future instead of being passed to the chief executive.”
Elected members on the policy and strategy committee were told that the new set-up sees heads of service take on the strategic responsibilities for the area’s nine new community boards, and that the pay award – taking effect from April 2022 – brings the roles into
line with equivalents on similarly-sized councils using a nationally- agreed pay scale. A report noted that North Lanarkshire has fewer chief officers than similarly-sized South Lanarkshire and Fife Councils, and its wage bill for top officers is more than £700,000 per year smaller than its two comparator councils.
Chief executive Des Murray said: “The investigation of parity of pay between current stakeholders and employees
in the senior management team and peer employees, a disparity has been identified. But it [ the investigation] seeks to do that against a background of Covid and the need and expectation that the council must continue to identify savings that will support and protect frontline jobs across North Lanarkshire.”
The proposals were agreed after being supported by both the Labour and SNP groups on the committee – with council leader Jim Logue emphasising
the reduced number of senior officers and the resultant savings generated. He said: “Our Labour administration recognise the strength of public feeling regarding senior council officer pay.
“The proposals passed at Thursday’s committee cut the number of seniors officers to one of the lowest levels in the country, and save the council over £ 200,000 every single year – which will be reinvested in crucial local services.”