Original Poster

1,700 posts

174 months

Sunday 7th March 2010

We need a revolution! 13 years of Nu-Labour and all we have is massive debt and bloated council elites paying themselves renaissance fortunes even as they cut services.

Who would have thought that a career in a local council was a path to riches?

It is f

king INSANE!

This is the way 3rd world countries operate; a job as an offical being a path to f

k everyone else over and enrich yourself.

From The Sunday Times March 7, 2010

Pay bonanza for council bosses

Colin Hilton, head of Liverpool council, was criticised for its fibreglass penguins

Robert Watts and Georgia Warren

COUNCIL bosses have goldplated themselves against the recession with more than 2,000 of them earning above £100,000 last year.

As local authorities plead poverty and prepare to axe up to 180,000 workers, there has been a fivefold rise in the number of senior staff receiving six-figure packages since 2004.

The highest earner last year was an official in Cornwall who received at least £400,000, including bonuses and a payoff. The sum is more than twice the prime minister’s salary.

In some cases, councils with a poor financial track record have rewarded managers with the most generous pay.

Liverpool, rated England’s worst local authority by an official spending watchdog in 2008, paid in excess of £100,000 to 31 officials last year; Colin Hilton, its chief executive, received more than £210,000. In 2004 only seven staff received six-figure sums.

An analysis of the accounts of 433 councils has revealed that 2,056 officials received at least £100,000 in salary, bonuses, severance payments and other benefits in 2008-9 — up from 391 in 2003-4.

A total of 86 local government workers earned more than £200,000 in 2008-9, compared with just one employee five years earlier.

“There is no justification for a fivefold increase in town hall managers with six-figure packages,” said Caroline Spelman, the shadow communities and local government secretary. “Under Labour ... expensive administrators have proliferated at taxpayers’ expense.”

The Sunday Times examined the accounts after it emerged last month that councils have sought to keep secret the salaries of senior staff. They claimed that officials’ families might be threatened or their children bullied if the identities of those earning more than £50,000 were revealed. They will now have to disclose only those earning above £150,000.

Yesterday it emerged that David Cameron, the Conservative leader, wants all council staff earning more than £58,500 — the entrance pay standard for senior civil servants — to be named with their pay and perks if the Tories get into office.

A recent BBC survey indicated that councils in England may sack up to 10% of their employees (180,000 posts) as part of an efficiency drive over the next three to five years.

Bosses, however, seem to be assured of handsome rewards — even if they get laid off.

The executive in Cornwall, paid more than £400,000 last year, including a bonus and payoff, was one of six senior officials in the county to receive lucrative pay-offs last year. This weekend the unitary authority refused to identify the highest-paid official, but the award followed the merger of six smaller councils.

The largest of these, Liberal Democrat-controlled Cornwall county council, was run by Sheila Healy. Reportedly on a salary of £130,000-£160,000, she took redundancy last year.

Healy, 55, who lives in a 19th-century farmhouse worth £500,000, immediately walked into a new role at a council in Shropshire. She was unavailable for comment last night.

Cornwall county council paid 16 officials more than £100,000 last year, compared with one person in 2004. A spokeswoman said the higher pay factored in severance packages because of the merger.

Hilton, 54, was one of 31 Liverpool officials who received six-figure sums — 12 months after the Audit Commission named the council the worst financially managed in England. Last year the Lib Dem-controlled council had a £62m budget shortfall and was forced to make cuts, including closing two care homes and play centres. Council tax rose by 4.8%.

Liverpool also attracted criticism for spending £100,000 on 200 lifesize fibreglass penguins as part of a public art project.

The council, whose Audit Commission rating improved in 2009, said the increase in staff earning more than £100,000 was a result of inflation-linked pay. A spokesman said: “These are exceptionally demanding, highly skilled leadership roles.”

Tory-led Kent county council paid 41 staff six-figure sums last year, more than any other local authority and up from nine in 2003-4. They include Peter Gilroy, its outgoing chief executive; he will receive a £200,000 payoff on top of his £220,000 annual package.

Kent is the biggest local authority, with a £2.4 billion budget and 40,000 staff, although it plans to cut the equivalent of 463 posts by 2013. A spokesman said the jump in the number of executives earning more than £100,000 followed pension contributions being included after 2007.

At Islington council in north London, 23 staff earned more than £100,000 last year, including John Foster, chief executive, who was paid £210,000. Foster joined from Wakefield council where he received £540,000 in his final year, including a substantial payoff.

Last year the council, which is controlled by the Lib Dems, witnessed the death of its award-winning “living wall”, a £100,000 horticultural display embedded into a 30ft structure.

John Denham, the communities and local government secretary, said: “It is for councils to decide what they pay their staff, many of whom are excellent and have given a lifetime of public service. But we are seeing that this has gone too far in some cases.”

Additional reporting: Robin Henry, Charlotte Hunt-Grubbe

Edited by SmoothRB on Sunday 7th March 01:41

deadslow

8,044 posts

225 months