Chief exec’s £3,600 pay boost
BUT CITY COUNCIL PROMISES A NET SAVING OVERALL
PAY rises for Newcastle’s council chiefs has been announced – with the civic centre’s top boss now set to pocket almost £184,000 a year.
Most of the city council’s highestearning directors are due to get a 2% pay rise next year, documents have revealed.
That means chief executive Pat Ritchie’s salary will be boosted by around £3,600 to £183,891, if the changes are signed off by councillors next Wednesday.
Her latest pay increase is substantially smaller than in recent years, with her wages increased by almost £30,000 in the space of two years between 2016 and 2018. The 2% rise will match the pay award for all council employees.
An impending shake-up of the civic centre’s top brass has also led to the creation of two new jobs – each with a maximum salary of £131,476.
The posts of director of children, education and skills and director of adult social care and integrated services will act as a replacement for Ewen Weir, who is soon to depart his role as director of people.
But while splitting Mr Weir’s role, which commanded a salary of £144,228, into two high-paying positions will increase spending in those council departments, officials say that the removal of other jobs will lead to an overall saving of £50,000.
The other major change comes from the creation of a new director of city futures role, to be occupied by Tom Warburton and carrying a potential salary of between £105,866 and £126,096.
That job was touted last week as a replacement for departing assistant chief executive Helen Dickinson, but comes with a significantly larger pay packet. Ms Dickinson’s maximum salary last year was £98,685.
A council spokesperson said: “The pay award for the directors and chief executive is in line with the pay award for all council staff, and was agreed at a national level by the National Joint Council for chief officers and is therefore a contractual obligation.
“Although the deletion of the director of people’s post has led to the creation of two new director’s posts, the deletion of five deputy chief officer posts will result in an overall net saving of about £50,000 across the authority.
“The new director of city futures salary is higher than that of the deleted assistant chief executive’s post as the new role has a broader range of responsibility including climate change, economic development and air quality.”
Council director of resources Tony Kirkham will have his maximum salary upped to £141,859, while £131,476 is the most that director of place Michelle Percy and director of operations and regulatory services Christine Herriot can earn next year.
According to a report being sent to a full council meeting next week, the median salary across the local authority is £23,836.
It was announced recently that Ms Ritchie is the new chair of the Government Property Agency, a job which pays an annual salary of £36,000 for two or three days’ work per month.
However, part of that salary will be paid directly to the city council, to reimburse it for any working days that the chief executive spends away from council business.