Council salaries under the spotlight
The chief executive of West Berkshire Council is 110th on the list of highest chief executive earners in the country
THE salaries of some of West Berkshire Council's top earners have again come under the spotlight following a report in a national newspaper.
The Daily Telegraph has published a list of pay packets of 145 senior town hall officials up and down the country, and has found that the take-home pay of two-thirds had risen in the same year front-line services were slashed.
The chief executive of West Berkshire Council, Nick Carter, earned £158,697 last year, £266 more than he earned the previous year, and over £16,000 more than Prime Minister David Cameron, whose annual salary is £142,000.
An appeal to council chief executives across the country by the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to cut their salaries by 10 per cent had been largely ignored.
West Berkshire Council's draft statement of accounts shows the total remuneration for Mr Carter for the year 2010/11 and the totals for five corporate directors.
While the basic salaries had not increased, each pocketed the extra sums in allowances, bonuses and perks.
The total remuneration, including pension contributions, for the corporate director for children and young people Margaret Goldie was £120,556, £202 up on the previous year, and the corporate director for the environment John Ashworth took home £382 more with earnings of £120,357.
Also seeing a bumper pay increase was West Berkshire Council's community services director Teresa Bell, whose salary rose £5,624 to £112,380
The head of legal and electoral services David Holling saw his salary rise £157 to £92,571, and the head of finance Andy Walker took home £91,606, £239 more than the previous year.
Mr Carter, who was on holiday at the time of being contacted by the Newbury Weekly News, is 110th on the list of highest chief executive earners, his salary eclipsed by those at the top end, with Joanna Killian, the chief executive of Essex County Council and Brentwood Borough Council earning a total remuneration of £289,173 for the year 2010/11.
A spokesman for West Berkshire Council, Keith Ulyatt said: “You can see by the statement of accounts that the salaries of six of the staff listed have not gone up.
“The one that has is that of Corporate Director Community Services, and that is an increment within their pay scale which is a contractual obligation.
“Two of those listed take part of their salary as a lease car, and those lease car costs have increased.
“The other increases to the 'total remuneration' come from increases to the pension fund.
West Berkshire Council imposed a pay freeze on staff last year as it administered cuts to services in the wake of a budget reduction of millions of pounds from the Government.
Mr Ulyatt said the total remuneration of each of the listed directors, salary plus pension payments, car allowances and contractual bonuses was not bound by the pay freeze, but the pay scales of those listed remained frozen.
