Caerphilly Council leader defends £15k pay rise for top executive

The leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council has defended a decision to give the local authority’s deputy chief executive a £15K a year pay rise.

Details of the pay rise, approved by the council’s cabinet on Tuesday, were leaked to the South Wales Echo by an unnamed “political source”.

A report drawn up by chief executive designate Anthony O’Sullivan, who replaces outgoing boss Stuart Rosser, recommended the pay rise.

Council leader Lindsay Whittle told the Echo that deputy chief executive Nigel Barnett had been given the rise because of extra responsibilities given to him because of a management re-structure.

He said: “The Plaid-led administration has reduced the number of corporate directors from five to four, its lowest ever number. This will bring an overall saving of £120,000 a year or almost £500,000 over four years.

“Management costs at Caerphilly are kept to a level which means that the salary of the most senior officers is among the lowest in Wales.

“We are also operating a top-down approach in terms of making necessary savings rather than bottom-up.

“This report, although confidential because of the salary issue, was made available to every member of the authority, so there was no attempt to hide this information.”

The “political source” told the Echo: “The council is looking at cutting between £28m and £34m over the next four years. The cuts include outsourcing all care homes to the private sector, a move that is causing great worry to the carers, many of whom have a salary equivalent to Mr Barnett’s pay rise.

“Giving a pay rise of £15,000 to someone who is already paid more than £100,000 will not go down at all well with the council’s workforce or with the public.”

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