Camden Council chiefs’ salary bill to be cut by ‘£780,000’
Published: 24th February, 2011
by RICHARD OSLEY
CHIEF officers at the Town Hall will take a cut in the amount of money they take home, the New Journal has learned.
The move, revealed for the first time last night (Wednesday), follows weeks of negotiations between senior Labour councillors and top earners working for Camden Council.
It is set against national pressure to bring down the wage bills at local authorities, particularly at director level and above, and the familiar rows over chief executives earning more than the Prime Minister.
The new deals will not see a direct change to salaries held by council boss Moira Gibb and her closest colleagues – they are protected under contract.
But their holiday allowances will be cut and performance-related bonuses axed, shaving down the package currently enjoyed by the highest paid at the council.
Labour strategists say they are looking to save £780,000 on the chief officer pay bill by next year, a 20 per cent reduction.
Some top posts will be deleted as a process of “delayering” at the top of the council hierarchy begins.
And, under plans seen by the New Journal, when those roles become vacant as staff move on to work elsewhere, new recruits can expect to attract 10 per cent less in pay than the workers they are replacing.
Finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell said: “Labour welcomes senior officers for taking this first step.
“It’s a positive move in an increasingly hostile environment where the government in the aggressive form of Eric Pickles is bent on using public servants as hate figures while he presses ahead with the worst cuts programme since the Second World War.”
Ms Gibb has regularly seen her name and picture appear in top 10 tables of highest paid local authority chiefs when the issue is discussed in national newspapers.
Opposition councillors said the move was a step in the right direction.
Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Keith Moffitt said: “If they are going to do it, it is welcome. We are looking at freezing allowances for councillors, so freezing pay for chief officers should be looked at too.”
Conservative leader Cllr Andrew Mennear said measures on staff pay were likely to be included in a Tory alternative budget to be presented to the council on Monday.
“We will be looking at how the council can be restructured to make savings so you don’t have cut services that people value,” he said. “It is all about choices.”