Council / Union claims chief executive pay rises are an ‘insult’ to local government workers
Local authority organisation COSLA says the chief executive salary structure has not been reviewed for nearly 25 years
DOUBLE-digit pay rises for council chief executives in Scotland are “unfair” and must be reversed, according to the union Unison.
Following a national review undertaken by local authority organisation COSLA, chief executive salaries are set to rise across the country – with the role at Shetland Islands Council due to rise from £133,530 to £165,755 across the next two years.
The same change is happening in Orkney, Western Isles and Clackmannanshire.
Unison said chief executives across Scotland more generally will receive a lesser pay rise of around 12 per cent.
COSLA said the pay framework for chief executives had not been reviewed for more than two decades, adding that there had been “significant slippage against other public sector posts of lesser responsibility”.
However UNISON Scotland local government lead Mo Dickson said the increases were an “insult” to local government staff.
“Everyone deserves fair pay, but handing disproportionate increases to the most senior figures is unfair on the rest of the staff, and the public too,” she said.
“UNISON wasn’t involved in developing or approving the process and the outcomes are unacceptable.
“Sums like these are an insult to local government staff who struggle to deliver services every day, with limited resources. Not only is this decision unjust, it undermines public confidence in local councils.
“UNISON will be writing to the chief executives concerned asking them to forgo these excessive pay awards. That’s the only way to retain the trust of staff and communities in how their institutions are run.”
COSLA’s resources spokesperson councillor Katie Hagmann reiterated that the decision had been taken at a national level and not by local councils.
“Until now the pay framework for council chief executives had not been reviewed since 2001 – nearly 25 years,” she said.
“This means the new pay framework needed to reflect significant movement over more than two decades, including significant slippage against other public sector posts of lesser responsibility.
“Competitive salaries which adequately reflect the responsibilities and demands of the job are critical to enable councils to attract and retain high quality chief executives who can provide the leadership required for effective delivery of key public services, particularly in the challenging context we currently face.
“It should be noted that the leaders of many similarly sized organisations are paid considerably more.”
A spokesperson for Shetland Islands Council said last week that the resulting salary increase will be “built into the funding we receive from the Scottish Government and it does not impact directly on the funding of other council services”.
They added: “In terms of the COSLA decision, this only relates to chief executives’ pay so there are no direct implications for director or executive managers’ pay scales at this stage.
“The chief executive’s pay sets the top of our salary structure and a review of the council’s salary scales is included in our HR service plan.
“This COSLA decision creates greater scope for potential change within that review than previously.”
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