Council chief with a £600,000 pay deal
Executive gets almost FOUR TIMES the PM’s salary as £100,000-plus town hall packages soar – while families face £76-a-year tax hikes
THE number of local authority fat cats earning more than £100,000 has surged to almost 2,500 – just as households are hit by a sharp rise in council tax bills, a report shows.
Some 608 council employees earned packages exceeding the Prime Minister’s £ 150,000 salary, up from 558 on the previous year.
And 28 of the officials took home total pay packets exceeding £250,000, the annual Town Hall Rich List report by the Taxpayers’ Alliance pressure group revealed.
The scale of local authority spending was revealed as families prepare for an average rise of £76 a year on their council tax bills from this month.
A total of 2,454 council employees earned more than £100,000 in 2017/18, the analysis found.
This represents an increase of more than six per cent in those receiving six-figure packages – including pensions, bonuses, expenses and other pay-outs – from 2,306 the previous year. The prevalence of generous pay packages comes despite council workers having to endure years of pay freezes under government austerity measures.
According to the rich list, the highest paid council employee was Slough Borough Council’s interim chief executive Roger Parkin, who earned £595,077.
His basic salary of £112,159 was topped up by an early pension payment of £339,903 and a severance payment of £142,215 when he left the role at the end of 2017.
The council defended the payments as ‘only what is contractually and statutorily mandated’.
The second highest-paid council chief was Joe Blott, Wirral Council’s managing director for delivery, who took home a total pay packet of £569,423. This included pension payments of £357,223 and a severance pay- out of £93,413 when he left the role.
The rich list reveals that Essex Council is the highest payer, with 55 of its employees earning more than £ 100,000 in 2017/ 18 and another 13 making over £150,000.
The council said that 17 of the 53 employees earning six-figure salaries crossed the threshold because they left the council due to a ‘redesign’ and were given legitimate severance payments. A spokesman added: ‘All our salaries are subject to regular independent review and measured against the public and not for profit sector.’ Hackney, Lambeth and Birmingham councils each paid 28 senior employees packages totalling £100,000 or more.
Despite legislation aimed at cutting down on extravagant severance payments, nine local authority directors were handed pay- offs topping £150,000 in the year up to March 2018.
Severance payments to departing council executives are supposed to be capped at £95,000 under 2016 rules which are still yet to be enforced.
The highest severance payment was given to Steven Mason, the outgoing chief executive of Northumberland council, who was paid £370,000. The executive, who had previously enjoyed a salary of £142,000, also received £6,310 in expenses and £5,805 in pension payments. Lesley Mountford, Stoke-on-Trent Council’s former director of public health and social care, was handed a golden goodbye worth £209,546 after leaving her job.
The executive, who only took up the role in 2015, was given the money as ‘compensation for loss of office’ alongside her £131,836 salary for 2017/18, as well as pension pay-outs of £27,791.
Elsewhere, the rich list revealed that in South Wales Caerphilly Council’s unnamed acting chief executive earned £132,309 in ‘benefits and expenses’.
Council tax bills in England will increase by an average of 4.7 per cent this year.
Annual Band D bills are rising by an average of £78, reaching an average of £1,750 and more than £2,000 in some areas.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Despite many in the public sector facing a much-needed pay freeze to help bring the public finances
‘Staggering sums for those leaving their jobs’ ‘Right people with the right skills’
under control, many town hall bosses are continuing to pocket huge remuneration packages, with staggering pay-outs for those leaving their jobs.
‘There are talented people in the public sector who are trying to deliver more for less, but the sheer scale of these packages raise serious questions about efficiency and priorities.’
A Local Government Association spokesman said: ‘ It is important that the right people with the right skills and experience are retained to deliver this important work.
‘Senior pay is always decided by democratically elected councillors in an open and transparent way.’
WITH libraries closing, social care provision in crisis and this year’s sharp council tax rise, the Mail’s revelation that a staggering 2,454 local authority employees earn more than £100,000 a year will enrage long-suffering taxpayers.
Some officers also received huge pension payments – over £350,000 in one case – and severance packages more familiar in the financial sector than public service.
With cash so tight, isn’t it time these councils took a long, hard look at their priorities?