Eric Pickles says councillors should vote on top pay

Author: BBC News   |  

Councillors should have to approve local authority salaries of more than £100,000, the government says.

Guidance is to be issued to councils that any salaries above that threshold should go to a vote of full council.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said it should not be agreed in private and all councillors should get a say.

But the Local Government Association said councils were “leading the way” in transparency and asked whether MPs would vote on civil servants’ salaries.

Research done by pay analyst Incomes Data Services this week showed that 43% of council chiefs were paid more than £150,000 last year – more than the prime minister’s salary of £142,000.

Its study of 300 councils in England and Wales showed that pay ranged from £62,000 in West Somerset to almost £300,000 in the London Borough of Wandsworth.

The Localism Bill currently going through Parliament includes plans to require councils, and fire and rescue authorities, to publish a statement setting out their policy on salaries and bonuses for chief officers, which must be approved by all councillors.

The Department for Communities and Local Government says ministers will issue new guidance on a “salary ceiling” of £100,000 above which pay decisions should be approved separately by the full council.

But it admits the guidance “cannot impose any absolute requirements on local authorities of fire and rescue authorities” as they set their own policies.

‘Shake up power’

Mr Pickles told the BBC: “Instead of being discussed by just a small number of councillors in a closed room we think this should be done by all the council in open session, which the press and the public can attend.”

He said a survey suggested that chief executive pay had increased within five years – including performance related pay and bonuses – by 78%: “I don’t think that’s a system we should be particularly proud of.”

He said the plans would “give backbench councillors a say” and said he often got complaints from councillors that they did not have any real influence on executive pay.

Mr Pickles describes the Localism Bill as “one of the most radical pieces of legislation to be debated in this chamber for decades” which would “shake up the balance of power in this country”.

“It is important, given that we are giving more powers to local authorities this is really just part of the checks and balances to ensure when we are giving more power that that power is open to public scrutiny.”

He denied suggestions by Sir Steve Bullock, the mayor of Lewisham who is also on the Local Government Association (LGA), that the plan would include head teachers.

“Head teachers are not caught up in this because they are employed by the council,” Mr Pickles said.

But the LGA, which represents councils in England and Wales, said councils were “leading the way” in transparency.

Sir Steve, who is chairman of its Local Government Group Workforce Board, said: “It is right that pay for senior staff in the public sector is subject to scrutiny, but this kind of top-down interference is simply unnecessary.

“Councils are leading the way in being transparent about all their spending, and many authorities already have remuneration committees with independent members from outside the authority that examine senior salaries.

He added: “We look forward to hearing from ministers whether other parts of the public sector are going to be as transparent as local government, and if MPs will be asked to approve the salaries of civil servants earning more than £100,000.”

Mr Pickles told the BBC: “I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t have this kind of debate in the House of Commons.”

Councils have already been compelled to publish receipts for any expenditure over £500.

Last year Mr Pickles called for council chief executives earning more than £200,000 to take a 10% pay cut and those earning £150,000 to take a 5% pay cut.

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