Topic: | Re:Senior Council staff salaries – a question for Cllr Taylor | |
Posted by: | Phil Taylor | |
Date/Time: | 05/02/11 16:36:00 |
George, I am not quite sure why you are taking my name in vain. Whenever I have been involved in recruitment for either the council or Little Ealing Primary School where I am a governor I have always been a voice for pay restraint. I am mildly embarrassed that the Conservative administration I was part of presided over a rise in of 25% (from 498 to 621) in the number of people paid over £50K last year. You do need to acknowledge though that it is not that surprising. If you look at the income stats (ASHE) you will find that average full-time pay in the UK is £32,178. Average full-time pay of Ealing residents is £37,145. In fact 20% of Ealing full-timers earn more than £45,401 so £50K salaries are not unknown. The way current average full-time salaries are a lot of people are going to get bumped over the arbitrary £50K reporting level every year even if pay is sensibly controlled. According to the council’s workforce strategy the council employs 3,373 (this is 2,833 FTEs). So if 621 out of 3,373 earn over £50K, that is 18%. The council seems to have a similar profile to that of Ealing residents so I am perhaps reassured. It only takes a few school governing bodies giving heads and deputies another point on the pay scale and another 50 people will cross the pay line and be over £50K. Unless you know what is happening to the whole pay bill this kind of analysis makes little sense. If you look a little further into the statement of accounts you will see that pay costs went up by 5.8% last year overall from £327M to £346M. The figure was high as 100 odd CEOs (traffic wardens in old money) passed from the old contractor to the council. The previous year the rise was only 3.1%. Next year overall pay will drop as the CEOs drop out again. You will no doubt appreciate that the number of employees paid over £150K dropped from 3 to 1. I am happy to say I helped to contribute to that by doing the recruitment panel for our new Executive Director For Corporate Resources. The number of people paid over £100K only increased by 1 from 17 to 18, that is 5.8%. Keep your hair on! |