It’s a fifty grand life for 59 council staff

Almost £4 million is paid to Rochdale Council middle managers who are cashing in on salaries and benefits topping £50,000, a report today reveals.

According to information from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes, in 2007/8 there were 59 staff with remuneration packages of more than £50,000 at Rochdale council.

The total costs stood at £3.945million — or £19.14 per person across the district.

The previous year there were 38 middle managers earning more than the £50,000 package.

Nationally, the number of middle managers employed by councils has risen by more than 20% in the last year, from 31,000 to almost 37,000. A remuneration package is the total people earn, including salary, bonuses, commissions, and all other benefits available as part of the job.

Those benefits may include health and life insurance, contributions to a retirement plan, use of a company car, and similar benefits.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers‚ Alliance, said: “Thousands of people are losing their jobs in the private sector, yet councils are better staffed and better paid than ever.

“Councils are ignoring economic reality and simply recruiting more managers and handing out more pay rises than taxpayers can afford.

“Council tax bills are cripplingly high, and town halls must change their ways to bring the bill down.”

But the Local Government Association chief executive John Ransford said the figures were out of date and misleading.

He said: “The people who earn these salaries are responsible for multi-million pound budgets in highly complex organisations, and to attract the best and brightest people to deliver value for money, you have to pay a suitable wage.”