We'll publish pay of top earning council staff says Cameron

The pay and perks of all town hall staff earning more than £60,000 would be made public under Tory transparency plans outlined by David Cameron yesterday.

In an pre-election rallying speech to Tory local councillors, Mr Cameron said senior staff should face the same scrutiny by taxpayers as elected representatives.

And the party accused the Government – which plans to publish the pay of those earning more than 150,000 – of ditching more radical plans in the face of union pressure.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Under Labour plans voters would also know how many people earned between 50,000 and 150,000 – in 10,000 bands –but not who they were.

In return for being handed stronger powers, Mr Cameron said, councils should also accept the need to publish all 500-plus expenditure as well as tenders and contracts.

“We think there is an unanswerable case to go further over transparent pay,” he said.

“With a Conservative government, we believe that councils should publish online the details of all local government staff pay packages over a threshold of around 60,000.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I know that perhaps this won’t be that popular with some of you. But look at it like this: people up and down the country are tightening their belts, so what must they think when they see local government chief executives earning more in a year than some of them will earn in a decade?

“In Kingston-upon-Hull, the chief executive now earns 213,162 – tens of thousands more than the Prime Minister. In Islington – yes, that council which issued itself a parking ticket and refused to pay it - there are apparently now 18 members of staff earning more than 100,000.

“And Tower Hamlets is the second worst council in Britain for recycling but it’s been paying the director in charge of recycling a vast 148,173 a year.

“Is this really value for money? Taxpayers should have the tools and information to decide.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Transparency has worked in securing reform of MPs’ expenses, he said, telling councillors he found it was “not so bad” that full details of every pound he spent were available online.

Mr Cameron praised the efforts of his “army” of nearly 10,000 councillors – more than Labour and the Liberal Democrats combined – but said it was “time to mobilise” to defeat Labour in the General Election.