"Top 20 council earners getting £2.2m as cuts bite"

The Observer can reveal a ‘rich list’ of 20 Coventry City Council staff – who earn £2.2million in total.

Our investigation names for the first time those who will earn around £100,000 or more in pay, pension contributions and any extras combined this year.

It comes as 1000 more job posts face the axe with wages for 7,000 ordinary workers set to be pegged to two per cent next year, after years of pay freezes.

Around £65million more cuts over three years include proposals to close nearly all services in communities - from children's centres to libraries and youth clubs - to save £5million a year.

Controversial proposed cuts for transport to school for disabled children would save just £420,000 a year.

Council leader Ann Lucas pledged after ousting John Mutton in last year's leadership coup to reduce top earners by nearly a third.

The council claims to have halved the number of managers since 2010, since when a third of government funding has been cut.

But the numbers and total payout on the 'rich list' remains largely the same, despite a national drop in the number of town hall six-figure earners.

Chief executive Martin Reeves still earns around £215,000 including pension and his £175,000 salary, more than the Prime Minister's salary of £142,500.

Three on the list have transferred from the NHS as the council now has responsibility for public health.

The up-to-date list for 2014/15 obtained by us provides much more information about the council’s top earners than has been publicly available until now.

The council's latest accounts on its website is for the last financial year, 2013/14, and only declares salaries for the majority of the top earners, minus pensions and other remuneration.

Those in the Local Government Pension Scheme receive employer contributions of 13.5 per cent of their salary this year, the council said.

The council told us it expects some senior managers will take voluntary redundancy in future.

Savings in wages from any departures have to be offset against any one-off redundancy payments. More than £7million was paid out last year in exit packages to 292 departing Coventry council staff. It includes 11 who left with exit packages of more than £100,000.

The figures we reveal today exclude expenses placed on senior managers' corporate credit cards, which are not publicly available.

The council claimed in last year's statment of accounts that "senior officers have not received any bonuses, expenses or benefits in kind during 2013/14."

It adds: "The council is required to disclose details of senior officers' remuneration. This includes: salaries; fees, allowances; bonuses; expenses allowances; compensation for loss of employment; and pension contributions (employer's contributions and any other emoluments)."

The council this week confirmed some on the 'rich list' used their corporate credit cards to pay for work-based expenses.

Pay grades for senior management are set according to a national system called Hay grading, which considers skills and the "market rate".

The council reviews periodically if pay rises are merited within salary bands.

Well paid council bosses say they are taking home less due to pension scheme changes.

Responding to our investigation, Coventry City Council pointed to those on the 'rich list' paying more into their pensions, compared with when the coalition government came to power after 2010.

A council spokesperson said: "All senior managers in the pension fund are seeing reductions in their take home pay due to increases in their contributions to the scheme.

"For example, someone earning more than £85,000 in 2008 contributed 7.5 per cent to the fund compared to 10.5 per cent now for earners between £85,001 and £100,000.

"It is also true to say senior managers in local government earn significantly less as a package than people doing similar jobs in the private sector.

“The council has significantly reduced the number of senior managers in recent years despite national changes which saw councils take on responsibility for public health.

"Since 2011 the number of council senior managers at director level has reduced from seven to four."

The Local Government Pension Scheme saw changes nationally in April this year, with some local variations.

Government pension changes - intended to help reduce the national deficit - require millions of public workers to pay more into their pensions to get less out.

Local government pensions are less effected than others because they have been self-funded, the Local Government Association has claimed.

Read more: http://www.coventryobserver.co.uk/2014/ ... 22510.html

http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/2/budgets_and_spending/103/salaries_of_senior_managers

I do believe the council is paying over the odds and has far more 'senior' personnel than necessary. I also question the suitability and qualifications of some of these 'seniors' to hold the office they do.

Sadly, the tax payer has allowed the council to get away with this by not being active in elections. The answer really is in the hands of the citizens of this city, but they have to get off their backsides and make an effort.