The chief executive of Caerphilly County Borough Council is to get a pay rise of 4% in a compromise deal voted for by councillors.
Council boss Anthony O’Sullivan will have his salary capped at £137,000 a year for the next four years. The decision, made by councillors at a meeting on Thursday, means a previous decision to award the chief executive a salary of up to £158,000 has been scrapped.
The new pay structure will be kept, but chief council officers will now be moved to the lowest increment level instead of the highest, or the next highest where the lowest increment in the pay deal is lower than the old system.
Cllr Hefin David, who proposed the compromise deal after negotiation with trade unions representing staff, warned the council faced huge legal bills if they tried to fully reverse the pay hikes.
Labour councillors argued the deal would save the local authority £418,000 over the next four years, however the pay rises will still cost the council £1.118m extra over the same period.
Speaking after the meeting, Council leader Harry Andrews said: “This compromise will hopefully
demonstrate to staff and the wider public that our determination to address this issue was sincere and that we value every single member of staff of this organisation.
“If this can be now accepted as a resolution we can move on to deliver on our priorities for the benefit of all of the people of the county borough. We can now work with all staff at all levels, including the Chief Executive and senior officers to achieve that.”
Plaid Cymru group leader Colin Mann said he was unhappy at the way the deal was presented to councillors and had wanted to adjourn the meeting for it to be considered fully.
Cllr Mann, whose motion to fully rescind the pay rises was voted down, said: “We had been asked to take a decision on a piece of paper bounced in front of us half way through a legal presentation.
“That piece of paper was then amended as it was read out. If it was a situation where Brian Rix acted in the West End it would be a farce.
“The financial implications were not spelled out. The actual bill going forward will be over £1m over the next four years.”
In often heated exchanges between rival party members and Mayor Gaynor Oliver, who chaired the meeting, councillors were repeatedly warned about their conduct. At one point, Cllr Oliver ordered Independent councillor Anne Blackman out of the council chamber, but the Nelson councillor remained.
Part of the council meeting was discussed in private after councillors were told by monitoring officer Dan Perkins that elements could not be discussed publicly. He said legal advice meant the authority could breach the Data Protection Act if they discussed certain elements of employees’ pay in public.
Councillors took a vote to hold those elements of the meeting in public and voted against such a measure.
During the element where councillors could discuss the pay issue, Mr O’Sullivan and Mr Perkins were not present.
Councillors also voted for the Senior Remuneration Committee, which originally agreed the secret pay deal in September, to be disbanded. In future, senior officer pay will be decided by full council.
Councillor James Fussell
Councillors were also repeatedly warned throughout the meeting to avoid asking questions relating to a complaint made against Plaid Cymru which has been submitted to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
Cllr Fussell, who was not at the meeting through ill-health, was a member of the Senior Remuneration Committee which originally agreed the pay rises back in September last year.
He had previously stated in public that he did not vote in favour of the increases.
However, deputy council leader Keith Reynolds, who was also a member of the committee said the decision by himself and the other members was unanimous.
He asked the council’s head of legal services and monitoring officer Dan Perkins if it was true that Cllr Fussell had been reported to the Ombudsman, to which Mr Perkins confirmed.
When asked by Cllr Reynold the nature of the complaint, Mr Perkins refused to answer citing the ongoing investigation.
During Thursday’s meeting, Mr Perkins also apologised for not giving proper notice of September’s meeting to councillors – hence it was unknown to many.
He admitted an error had been made but denied there had been a deliberate attempt to mislead. PricewaterhouseCoopers is now investigating the way the pay rises were awarded.
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It is fair to say that when news of the eye – watering rises became public knowledge the public, staff and elected members were very concerned and angry. Such rises, especially in a period of austerity were simply unacceptable and it was incumbant on the Labour administration to act.
Behind the scenes the Labour group has been working around the clock to try to get the best deal possible that didn't involve expensive legal costs that ultimately the tax payer would have been responsible for. If carried, Plaid Cymru's motion would have led to this authority being dragged through the courts for years and would have cost us more financial damage than the compromised deal reached.
Plaid Cymru played politics by not voting with Labour on this deal. They voted against awarding the Chief Officer a one off 4% pay rise (frozen for the rest of the current administrations term of office). If we put this pay award into perspective it equates to a roughly 1% annual rise. This is far less than the level of inflation, a REAL – TERMS CUT.
Let there be no bones about it. The decision that the members took on the remuneration committee was wrong but this deal, although not great, is a step in the right direction.
I agree with James Pritchard that,
"The decision that the members took on the remuneration committee was wrong but this deal, although not great, is a step in the right direction."
If this avoids the tax payer funding lawyers to deliberate this for years it is the right decision. No surprise that Plaid want to play politics with this, Plaids own role in the disgraceful events surrounding this secret pay deal will, no doubt, soon be made public.
The next step, in my view, is to make redundancies amongst the top level council employees and to offer new posts, at a lower level of remuneration, to conduct the council's administation. This will not happen, as it is a council, but would, and does happen in private industry when company wants to reduce head count and pay roll bill.
this is the report in the south wales argus:
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/10170143.Ca…
That must be a first, the so called People`s Party actually listening to the people. Its like a classic hostage situation with the Labour Councillors identifying with the Council Oficers rather than their voters, and deciding to pay huge rises out of our Council Tax.
The original pay award would have cost the council more than £1.5 million pounds over the next four years. This new 'deal' will cost the council over £1.1 million and even more into the future – WHAT A BARGAIN ! ! ! – rewarding the highest paid when the lowest paid get nothing. Labour used to believe in socialism – what went wrong?
The reality is Labour back benchers acted to right a wrong committed by a few, Plaid’s only concern was to try and gain political advantage , had Plaid got their way the council would have been embroiled in an expensive legal dispute with its own senior officers, costing millions. The public auditors would have rightly seen this as waste of public money, as a compromise should have been sort, it worth mentioning that this could have led to the assembly appointing some to run the council. Plaids were not concerned with ensuring that the matter was dealt with in a grown up way, they were willing to pull down the roof for political advantage. Cllr Mann asked for the resignation of the chief executive, the public should know that the chief executive did not give himself a pay rise it was the 5 on the committee, yet he agreed to cut his own salary, he needs to have some recognition for that, as he did not have too. Plaid and Cllr Fusel role in this has yet to be looked at. An independent inquiry is underway, which has yet to report its findings. speculations by the mis-informed and those with political axes to grind is rife, lets wait for the facts.
the 1% freeze is a Tory policy, something the local authority has no control over, senior officer pay is out the control of Westminster.
is Nig a Caerphilly Councillor? His comment emphasises what is wrong with the way the council is now being run by labour
I suspect Nig is councillor nigel dix.
When are we going to have the full picture given to the public eg., the pay rises for all of them.
Oh yes Nig, it was Osbourne and his rich pals who decided the poor must pay the greater price for the mess his banking pals got us in to,, BUT !!!! it was also Osbourne who said the lowest paid public sector workers should get "£250 every year of the pay freeze as they will feel the pinch more than anyone" and it was Plaid 3 yeas ago that told the workforce"we can not afford the payment we are all in this together" while secretly paying Nigel Barnet £15000 for coming second,, and now it's Labours turn to deny the lowest paid of that rise, while secretly attempting to pay huge sums to higher management..perhaps the voters will have a say in this eventually, and a great number of voters work for the authority plus family and friends who's votes they influence ! we will wait and see..
I sat in the council chamber Thursday night and was appalled by the actions of Labour.
1. Harry Andrews did not and had not stood up and formally apologised for this mess. It was tagged on to one of the press reports. Take a look how much he's getting paid.
2. The wall of silence from Labour allowed Plaid to step in. And I'm glad Plaid went running to the press. I think Labour thought it would go away.
3. Labour had obviously been whipped into toeing the party line that night – it was like a group of kids who had been told off.
4. The mayor/chair was a complete joke. She favoured labour throughout. The way she spoke to Cllr Blackman was uncalled for.
5. Nothing had been made of Dan Perkins "errors do happen" statement. Surely he must be up for gross incompetence and bringing the council into disrupte.
6. The proposal was put on the table. There was half an hour closed session then there was a vote. I think Colin Mann was right to ask for more time to study it and get better advice.
7. If Labour think this will suddenly make everything right they are very much mistaken.
To sum up – if the electorate saw the smug way done of those councillors acted on that chamber they would never vote for then again. I still can't believe that was a labour led council meeting. Shane on you all.
NO compromise is acceptable in relation to this issue.
This is clearly a case of, at best, incompetence, at worse, maladministration on the part of the most senior officers of the Council and Council leaders. It has resulted in the Chief Executive of the council and his senior Council colleagues getting way above inflation pay rises whilst every other Council employee, and most of the citizens of the Borough get nothing or next to nothing. It has resulted in the original decision of the `secret panel of five` being ratified, but ` varied`. Nothing wrong with it then?
The entire debacle should be investigated by the Welsh Assembly, and, if there is nothing wrong with the way this matter has been handled, all other Council Chief Executives and senior staff of all other Welsh Local Authorities should be asked to attend a seminar to `learn` how it`s done.
The Council will have to disclose the all the papers and documents about this issue, in the public interest, it has been said the press have them already, to `hide` them would mean they certainly have something to hid, it is no longer personal information in relation to who earns what, it is about mis-governance by Caerphilly county borough council. This is an appalling mess that will not go away, it effects every single citizen of the Borough, and, as such we have a right to know who said what, who has told lies, and who, if anyone, has failed in their public duty, if any of these people, by the nature of their status,are ` officers` of the court, they should ensure that things are not `swept under the carpet`, and come clean.