Council: Boss would get £4m if it were FTSE firm
Birmingham City Council gave a bullish response when asked about the salary of its interim chief executive Deborah Cadman, comparing the authority to a “FTSE 100 company”.
The difference, of course, is that residents are forced to pay to fund their local authority through council tax, which has been increasing annually over recent years.
A council spokesman said: “The role of chief executive is the most senior non-political post in our organisation - a job which comes with responsibility for the ultimate oversight of hundreds of essential services for the 1.2 million residents of Birmingham.
“The size and scale of the council’s operations mean it is not directly comparable with other councils regionally, or the vast majority of councils nationally. In addition to this, it must be noted that the council employs more than 11,000 staff and operates with an annual budget in excess of £3 billion, putting it on a par with FTSE 100 companies – for which the average CEO pay package is in excess of £4 million per year. When considering all of these points as a whole, it is clear that raw figures relating to salaries can be misleading and wider context helps put the numbers into perspective.”
Dudley Council
Kevin O’Keefe, chief executive of Dudley Council, said he was aware many residents were struggling. He said: “Dudley Council prides itself on providing a high standard of service for residents and we continually benchmark employee salaries across the organisation in order to attract the right calibre of recruits while providing value for money. Increases in chief executive pay are set nationally.
“Our local authority is the biggest employer in the borough and we are committed to paying a fair salary to all our employees. We recognise the financial pressures faced by many people and we will work tirelessly to support those who are most in need of our help.
“Residents who live in Dudley borough continue to pay one of the lowest rates of council tax in the country.”