One earns more than the Prime Minister
Seven Council employees are paid in excess of £100,000 a year – and one earns more than the Prime Minister, according to a new report by the Taxpayers' Alliance.
The Town Hall Rich List, which lists local government staff across the country whose total remuneration exceeds £100,000, shows that in Hammersmith and Fulham, the Director of Children's Services Andrew Christie and the Director of Environment, Nigel Pallace, both earnt £125,000 in 2007-8 and £145,000 in 2008-9 – a salary increase of 16%.
The Director of Community Services, James Reilly and the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Jane West, both earnt £135,000 in 2007-8, rising to £145,000 in 2008-9 – an increase of 7.4%, while the Council's Assistant Chief Executive Lesley Courcouf and the Building Schools for the Future Programme Director Andrew Rennison, earnt £105,000 in 2007-8 and 2008-9 respectively.
The Council's Chief Executive Geoff Alltimes, meanwhile, is one of 31 council staff across the country who earn more than the Prime Minister. Alltimes was paid £185,000 in 2007-8 and received a 10.8% increase in 2008-9, bringing his salary to £205,000. Gordon Brown, by comparison, earnt £194,250 in 2008-9.
The TaxPayers' Alliance say town hall executive pay appears to be insulated from the wider economic reality: "Town Hall bosses have had a very good recession at taxpayers' expense. More of them than ever are earning massive amounts, and they even enjoyed a healthy pay rise while everyone else was suffering pay freezes, cuts or redundancies. It is unfair that these public servants have been having a whale of a time while the ordinary taxpayers who fund their generous deals have been struggling to survive the recession. Now that most councils are in financial trouble, these senior managers must take serious pay cuts to help make ends meet," said John O'Connell, Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance.
The TPA say the average pay rise for the council staff on the Town Hall Rich List is five percent. This is compared with a 2.7 percent pay rise for nurses and a 2.3 percent pay rise for teachers.
The GMB Union recently hit out at Hammersmith and Fulham Council, saying plans to freeze employees' pay contradicted a pledge by the Conservative Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, who said the Tories would not freeze pay for those earning less than £18,000 per year.
“The local people who work for the Council and deliver the services to residents are having a pay freeze imposed on them for 2010. The vast majority of council workers are paid less than £18,000 a year. Conversely, significant pay rises for senior Council officers give the lie to the lack of funds for services or pay,” a statement from the union said.
But commenting on the high executive pay, Hammersmith and Fulham Council said they had saved money by reducing the number of Directors from nine to five in recent years. "This council is winning accolade after accolade. Residents' satisfaction is up to an all time high, we have cut council tax by 3% for the fourth year in a row, the Audit Commission has awarded us the top rating possible for the quality of our services and only last week we were officially named as the best council in Britain at the prestigious LGC Awards. These achievements do not happen by chance and are only possible with strong leadership and excellent staff,” a Council spokesman said.
“We employ the best people and to do that we need to pay competitive salaries. The council is responsible for a budget of nearly £1 billion and by getting the best talent we are able to ensure that a complex organisation is running at its most efficient level. In a truly innovative move, our Chief Executive was also put in charge of the local PCT about a year ago meaning taxpayers are getting two jobs done for the price of one. In addition to this cost cutting move the remaining council Directors and Chief Executive have taken a pay freeze in the current financial year (09/10). We are THE value for money council."
The figures in the TPA survey – which are based on responses made to Freedom of Information requests – reflect total remuneration which includes performance pay, bonuses, car allowances and redundancy payments as well as salary.
April 4, 2010
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