South Essex councils reveal why dozens of bosses were paid more than £100k in a year

The Taxpayers’ Alliance has published its Town Hall Rich List, revealing that multiple council staff across Southend, Basildon, Castle Point and Essex County Council took home hundreds of thousands of pounds within the year.

Basildon Council’s chief executive Bala Mahendran, was paid £265,398, the highest of any council worker in the East of England.

Southend Council saw 14 members of staff receive between £100,000 and £160,000. The highest paid member received £167,500, which included a redundancy payment. The council did not disclose who the member of staff was.

Castle Point Council had three members of staff receive £100,000 or more, whilst Essex County Council had 55, the highest for the region.

A Basildon Council spokesman said: “Our former Chief Executive left the role in July 2017, and we have since undergone a senior management restructure to help the organisation to become more outwardly focused.

“Our new structure reduces the number of senior managers and the cost of that level of management, while also being the best way to lead delivery of services to our community into the future.

“It was agreed at Council in October 2018 that our new Chief Executive would be appointed to the bottom pay point of SE9, with an annual salary of £161,808. The variety of statutory and discretionary services that the council provides requires the highest calibre of senior staff, with salaries that reflect that. Basildon Council publishes details of senior managers’ pay on its website annually.”

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “In 2017/18, Essex County Council paid 53 employees over £100k; however, 17 of these employees only exceeded £100k as they were leaving the organisation due to organisation wide redesign and their annual remuneration includes the severance packages they were entitled to.

“Essex County Council is one of the largest local authorities in England and if we are to attract the best people in the country to help us deliver the best outcomes for our residents, we need to offer an appropriate level of salary that is competitive to the commercial sector.

“All our salaries are subject to regular independent review and measured against the public and not for profit sector.”

A Southend Council spokesman said: “We are a large unitary authority responsible for delivering hundreds of services, including adult and children’s social care, education and highways, and manage an annual revenue budget of £360 million.

“It is therefore right that we have an appropriate senior management structure in place. This is a structure that has reduced in recent years.

“Four of our senior staff had salaries of over £100,000 in 2017/18, however the figures published include pension contributions which are not included in take home pay.

“The Tax Payers Alliance figures also include an amount for one member of staff that incorporates a redundancy payment made under retained NHS terms and conditions. This redundancy was made as a future cost saving measure.

“We recognise that, in the context of managing scarce public resources, salaries at all levels needs to be adequate to secure and retain high quality employees dedicated to the service of the public; but at the same time needs to avoid being unnecessarily generous or otherwise excessive.

“Given our proximity to London where higher salaries are often given for less complex roles, we feel the salaries allow us to recruit and retain high calibre leaders, capable of delivering high performance levels, delivering for local people, within times of financial challenge and in a highly politicised environment, locally and nationally.”