Council staff get 9% pay rise (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Council staff get 9% pay rise

10:03am Thursday 18th December 2008 in News By Emma Tilley

STAFF at Cirencester Town Council will receive a nine percent pay increase next year, despite predictions the country will slide even further into recession.

Town councillors agreed the budget-busting wage hike to increase office salaries from £157,775 to £171,850.

The money will come from local resident's council tax bills, but town councillors, who make decisions on behalf of Cirencester's 17,000-plus residents, have defended the move.

Deryck Nash said: "I fully appreciate this is not a good time to be increasing any taxation but it is important that we do our best to make Cirencester a town that is really worth living in."

He said they had been aware for some time the clerk and his deputy were underpaid.

Top boss at the council, town clerk Andrew Tubb, said the increase followed a job evaluation process last year undertaken by South West Provincial Employers.

"We are going to be expecting more from them. They are being given power and we have to pay them accordingly."

Town councillor Peter Braidwood

This led to 13 posts going up a pay scale.

And the increase is despite assurances earlier this year there would be no wage increase when staff changed their job titles.

In May the town clerk changed his title to Chief Executive officer, his deputy Clive Sherwood is now the deputy executive officer and personnel assistant Johan Newman is the executive officer.

This week the finance committee also recommended groundstaff wages increase from £169,500 to £180,530 next year.

Mr Tubb, who refused to disclose the breakdown of salaries, said: "We are all very proud to be the first town in Gloucestershire to be awarded Quality Status.

"We are committed to the community plan, Our Future Cirencester. This is not a plan which will gather dust. We are all seeking to make a positive contribution to the town and in making a real difference for the people and place of Cirencester."

So far this year Our Future Cirencester is £20,000 over budget, while no physical improvements have yet taken shape in the town.

Town councillor Margaret Rickman said: "The argument would be they were brought up to possibly what they should have been on previously. It is quite an important council with a large budget and a large town.

"All the councillors are very keen to keep the council tax down to get the best value for money and the best for the town."

Peter Braidwood, a town councillor who sits on the personnel group which made the original recommendation said the rise would mean councillors expect more from the staff.

"Andrew Tubb has come in and he is asking people to take more responsibility. Previous to that it was very centrally controlled," he said.

"What we are trying to do now is grade them correctly for their jobs so they have responsibility and they will have to deliver.

"We are going to be expecting more from them. They are being given power and we have to pay them accordingly."

Alan Jones, a spokesperson for the National Association of Local Councils, said: "It is up to the council to justify to its constituents, the electorate and tax-payers why it has done this."