Senior Sefton officers could be in line for bumper pay rise – thanks to Labour

Sefton Council’s 50 highest paid officers could be in line for bumper pay rises following Labour councillors agreeing a controversial provision in the Council’s draft new Pay Policy at a meeting on Thursday.  The officers affected are on salaries of between £46,700 and £139,900 a year.

The proposal came under attack from senior Lib Dem councillor Simon Shaw who attended the meeting concerned.  He opposed the Labour-supported move to give a role on deciding pay rises for top council officers to the private sector Hay Group, a global management consulting firm.

The controversial proposal is clause 20 in the draft Sefton Council Pay Policy http://modgov.sefton.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s79667/PAY%20POLICY%20December%202017%20FINAL%20VERSION%20with%20Stephans%20amendments.pdf

This relates to “Senior Officers Pay” (defined as those earning £50,000 and above) and states: ‘Each year the HAY Group are consulted as to what is an appropriate pay rise. The HAY Group advise based on predicted awards in the general market (Public and Private Sector), the amount of inflation, and the Retail Prices Index. This is also balanced against the National Joint Council Pay award and the ability of the Council to meet the pay bill.’

Cllr Shaw expressed his concern, saying “I am at a loss to understand why this Labour-controlled council feels it should pay a multi-national consultancy firm to tell it how much extra it should pay its most senior officers each year.  Labour claim to be opposed to galloping pay increases among private sector bosses, but now want to emulate them for its own senior officers.”

“I’ve checked the Pay Policies for neighbouring councils and none of them has any provision like this.  That’s why I proposed that the clause should be revised so that Sefton Council should simply follow the National Joint Council line on pay – that’s agreed nationally between local government employers and the unions.”

“That seemed totally logical and correct to me, but bizarrely, it was opposed by the Labour members of the Committee.”