Parliamentary inquiry set to look at senior council officers’ pay following Rochdale pay rise row

Chief Executive of RMBC Jim Taylor

The chief executive of Rochdale Council and other senior officers due to receive large pay rises could be called before Parliament to give evidence to an inquiry into local government pay, Rochdale’s MP has announced.

Simon Danczuk said that the Communities and Local Government Select Committee had agreed to an inquiry into local government officer pay after he raised concerns about proposals for a massive £40,000 increase for the chief executive of Rochdale Council. The proposals were deferred from last night's full Council meeting but will be considered at a later date.

Mr Danczuk said that while the planned pay rise was a “scandal” in Rochdale, the issue of senior council officer pay in local authorities generally was deserving of a national debate.

“I have serious concerns at what is going on in Rochdale Council at the moment regarding planned pay rises for senior officers,” he said. “They appear to be completely out of touch with what’s happening with other workers’ pay and they’re not based on any great improvements being made by the authority. It’s quite rightly generated a lot of anger across the Borough and my office has been inundated with calls from members of the public and council workers who are angry that this move is even being considered.

“When I hear from council workers who tell me they have gone down to a four day week with reduced pay to save the jobs of people in their team then you can understand their anger.”

He added that questions had to be asked about a culture at the top of local authorities where senior officers’ pay sometimes increased by tens of thousands of pounds a year with no questions asked.

“We cannot have a situation where senior officers get successive automatic promotions without even having a job interview and that their pay scale no longer has any bearing on their ability or qualifications for the job,” he said.

“Because there is less money available for local authorities now, it is vital that their employment procedures are open and transparent. We need to see the right people in the right jobs and taxpayers getting good value for money. In many local authorities across the country I’m not convinced this is happening.”