17 April 2008
The WLGA is today calling for scrutiny across all parts of the Welsh public sector regarding senior salaries and a proper comparison of individual scales of responsibilities.
Over recent months local government salaries have been an issue of intense media interest. During this period senior council workers have never failed to demonstrate that local government is accountable on these matters.
Steve Thomas, WLGA Chief Executive said:
“Local authority managers in Wales work in an open and vigorous political environment and are responsible for the critical daily services that communities rely upon. Furthermore, a recent Welsh Assembly Government survey showed that these services are highly valued and public satisfaction rates of council services are as high as 90%. These findings combined with the fact that this year we have seen the lowest council tax rises in over a decade shows that councils are fully in tune with their communities needs and are getting it right when it comes to service delivery. ”
“There needs to be a level of maturity about this debate. The recent study by the Institute of Fiscal Studies berated the fact that at all levels Wales as a nation is the poorest paid in the UK. If we are to attract top professionals into Wales from the UK and beyond then this debate based on crude relativism without reference to responsibilities is hugely damaging.”
Many senior local government salaries are lower than many other senior public services posts in Wales and jobs which arguably carry far less responsibility in terms of people, assets and service delivery (some of whom refuse to publish their salaries even following an FOI request)
The average salary of a local authority chief executive in Wales is well below their English counterparts at a similar structural level e.g. £117,000 in Wales and £150,000 in English Metropolitan authorities. In north east Wales the average chief executives salary in 2006 was approximately £106,000 compared to neighbouring Chester at £161,000.
Senior local authority managers in Wales are collectively responsible for -
• A budget in excess of £5bn
• A workforce of approximately 160,000 which is key to the prosperity and wellbeing of the local community;
• Chief executives hold the most senior posts in local government and are responsible for 8,000 staff on average and budgets in excess of £200m. They deliver several hundred vital services; including education, social services, environment health, refuse collection, public sector housing, libraries, leisure centres, trading standards, economic development/planning and many more. Also, they have a range of statutory responsibilities which carry legal sanctions. For example, they are head of paid service with a duty of care to all employees, “corporate parents” to looked after children, responsible for emergency planning and recovery, health and safety of the workforce and the conduct of elections.
The WLGA calls for similar scrutiny across all parts of the Welsh public sector in terms of salaries, for example senior post holders in the NHS, the Welsh Civil Service and other public funded bodies.
On the principle that “people in glass houses should not throw stones” we also call for more openness on the part of the publicly funded media in Wales not least of all senior executives in the BBC, an organisation which in comparative terms has the highest level of salaries over £100k of any public body across the UK.
Ends
For more information contact: Natasha Weeks