Councils afraid to say how much they pay chiefs
Council chiefs in England and Wales have refused to disclose the salaries of thousands of
senior staff, claiming it would lead to a public outcry.
The Government had ordered local authorities to disclose the earnings of all executives after concerns were raised about the size of pay increases granted to council officers.
But local authorities claimed that the pay disclosures would leave their staff vulnerable to reprisals from taxpayers. They argued that officers would be subjected to “personalised attacks and mischief making”.
They said family members might be threatened and officials’ children bullied at school. One local authority even said the proposals represented “a gross invasion of privacy”.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance, which uncovered the exchange after a Freedom of Information request, accused council chiefs of resorting to “emotional blackmail” and “scare-mongering”.
Council bosses were expected to list the names and salaries, as well as pensions, perks and pay-offs, of everyone paid more than £50,000 a year. They have since persuaded ministers that they should only have to disclose the full details of staff earning in excess of £150,000 a year. They will list the number of staff and the job titles of those employees earning more than £50,000, but no further details.
Rather than tens of thousands of local authority workers having their salaries published, just 114 council staff, most of them chief executives, will have to disclose their pay.
Councils have been criticised for granting pay rises to officials at a time when householders face increasing council tax bills and, in many cases, poor quality services.
Since 1997-98, the council tax bill for a typical band D property in England and Wales has increased from £688 to £1,414.
Last year it was disclosed that Andrea Hill, the chief executive of Suffolk county council, was paid £218,000 a year while John Foster, the chief executive of Islington council was paid £210,000.
There are thousands of other local authority employees below the most senior level on large salaries.
Gordon Brown has described the increasingly generous remuneration of council executives as “unacceptable”. He said money that should be spent on public services was “going on excessive salaries and unjustified bonuses”.
Last summer the Government announced plans to publish the names and salaries of “senior employees” at public bodies who earn more than £50,000 a year. In all thousands of staff across all councils were set to be named in England and Wales.
The proposals were also designed to cover local fire and police services. But, during a 12-week consultation, the Government encountered determined opposition from local authorities.
The Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors said key staff could be “personally targeted by less stable persons in the community”.
Wandsworth borough council, a flagship Tory local authority, warned that “families could be at risk of abuse and children of bullying due to press misrepresentation of data”. Forest Heath district council in Suffolk said: “The concern here is the potential misuse of this information for personalised attacks and mischief making.”
West Devon borough council said that the proposals were “a gross invasion of privacy”.
Mark Wallace, the campaign director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said it was “pure emotional blackmail to claim that anyone’s children could be threatened by improved pay transparency in local government”.
He added: “That is a low tactic and it should have been dismissed out of hand as scaremongering.
“It seems that some council officers don’t feel confident that taxpayers will approve of their pay and perks, and so they mounted a desperate attempt to keep them secret.”
Caroline Spelman, the Tory spokesman on local government, said: “Residents have a right to know how their council tax is being spent.”
A spokesman for the Communities and Local Government Department said last night: “We believe the rules strike the right balance between naming all those employed by councils earning over £150,000, whose salaries, pay and perks will be of greatest public interest, and identifying the posts of all other senior staff earning more than £50,000.”
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