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Anger as Town Hall three make rich list
THREE senior Camden Council officers have been unmasked on a local government rich-list for coining in some of the biggest pay rises in the country.
The revelation that three director posts at the Town Hall command a salary of nearly £150,000 each has provoked anger among union leaders currently battling against staff cuts.
The wages have been labelled “gold-plated” and the council has been urged to conduct an immediate review.
A nationwide investigation conducted by the Tax-payers’ Alliance found that Neil Litherland, director of housing and adult social services, collects £145,200. His wages jumped to that figure from £112,000 after his job title changed in a re-organisation of the council.
Children’s and Families director Heather Schroeder enjoyed the same raise, as did former environment chief Peter Bishop. Mr Bishop has since left the Town Hall to become a design consultant for Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and a permanent replacement has yet to be recruited. The leap in salaries amounted to a 29 per cent raise. All of the officers feature in the top ten pay rises in local government in the last year.
Andrew Allum, Chairman of the Tax-Payers’ Alliance, which used the Freedom of Information Act to dig out the figures, said: “Thousands of pensioners are having to choose between heating their homes and paying their council tax bills. It’s a complete insult to their dignity that so much of their money goes down the drain on top salaries for council staff. Town halls need to get a grip and cut back on gold-plated salaries.”
The campaign’s head of research Corin Taylor said: “Families will be outraged to know that much of their hard-earned money has gone on fat cat salaries. Local services are being cut back and Town Halls need to be shaken out of their culture of complacency.”
David Eggmore, secretary of Camden Unison, said: “The pay of top staff has increased at a much faster rate than our average employees. There seem to be quite a lot of people on high pay.”
But the Town Hall defended the spending, arguing that the cash was only handed over on a performance related pay basis. Conservative councillor Andrew Marshall said: “It is important for Camden to be competitive. We expect a lot from our senior officers and there is a rigorous annual appraisal of their work.”
Lib Dem finance chief Councillor Janet Grauberg said: “The increases relate to the fact that three senior posts were created where there were five before – so the individuals have greater responsibility recognised in increased salaries.
“More generally, senior officers in Camden do complex jobs managing nearly £1 billion of public money and thousands of staff and they are paid accordingly. |
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