The number of Luton council staff with salaries of more than £100,000 has doubled according to research published today, but the council says the figures are “skewed”.
The ‘Town Hall Rich List’ by the TaxPayers’ Alliance shows there were five LBC employees on salaries of over £100,000 in 2010-11, and this rose to ten in 2011-12.
However, a council spokesperson said these figures were because of redundancy payments and they have now reduced the number of £100k+ posts.
The spokesperson said: “We are committed to reducing the number of highly paid staff and have completed a full review of senior management resulting in a reduction of nine senior management posts, including one corporate director, and an annual saving of £500k. This along with cuts to council funding resulted in a number of one-off redundancy payments in 2011/12 which skew the figures.”
The highest paid employee is Chief Executive Trevor Holden, who in 2011-12 earned £177,120, plus employer pension contributions of £21,609 and a car benefit amount of £5,618, compared to his 2010-11 salary of £144,630.
Since January, Mr Holden has shared his chief executive role with Breckland Council and South Holland District Council in Norfolk as well as Luton.
The council spokesperson said: “We have continued to look at ways of further reducing salary payments and our Chief Executive is currently shared with two other local authorities meaning the cost of the post to Luton is now significantly less than £100k.
“This leaves four corporate director posts on £100k+ and these salaries are set at market rates so we have the relevant skills, expertise and leadership to ensure quality services are being provided for Luton residents.”
Matthew Sinclair, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It is good news that the number of senior council staff making more than £100,000 a year is finally falling, although that may only be because many authorities have finished paying eye-watering redundancy bills.
“Sadly, too many local authorities are still increasing the number of highly paid staff on their payroll, some of whom are given hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation just to move from one public sector job to another. Residents won’t be impressed if their council pleads poverty when it is demanding more and more Council Tax, only then to spend it creating more town hall tycoons.”