Pickles to expose ‘double dipping’ chiefs

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles vowed to open up “double dipping”, so-called because council officers “dip twice” into the public purse as they are paid for doing a job and not doing a job at the same time. The practice involves local authority executives taking early retirement and receiving a lump sum payment before going back to their old roles on a freelance basis.

Mr Pickles claimed such deals were agreed privately with no accountability.

But he said rules which would come into effect early next year would force councillors to hold meetings discussing such deals in public, opening them to voters’ scrutiny. He added: “The Localism Act opens up council pay rules so the full force of transparency can expose the dubious practice of double dipping and shine the light on boomerang bosses and mega-pay packets over £100,000.

“Decisions like this should not be taken behind closed doors in smoke-filled rooms.”

“Local authorities should scrutinise these practices at full council meetings and bring council pay back to earth as soon as possible. Any responsible, locally-elected councillor will want to use their pay vote to show all of the taxpaying residents that they mean business over some of the shoddy practices swirling around top town hall jobs.”

Ministers have already mounted campaigns which are calling on some top council executives to take cuts in their pay.

Their campaigns come amid claims some executives have been receiving excessive salaries.