Fur flies as survey says Glasgow has most ‘town hall fat cats’ in UK

The TaxPayers’ Alliance identified 12 people working for the council and its subsidiaries who collected more than £150,000 in salary, pension payments and other benefits last year.

Half of the 12 worked for Scottish Event Campus Ltd, the company which runs the SEC, whose shares are 90 per cent owned by the council.

Peter Duthie, the company’s chief executive, also topped the council-based UK list for benefits or expenses last year at £19,170 and had the second largest bonus, at £35,895.

Added to his salary of £179,477, the extras and a pension payment took his remuneration in 2018-19 to £261,464.

Two of the Glasgow dozen worked for the council spin-offs City Building and Culture & Sport Glasgow, while the remaining four worked for the council itself as senior officials.

The council rejected the methods used to calculate the figures, saying only chief executive Annemarie O’Donnell, had a base salary of more than £150,000 in 2018-19, at £175,590.

However all the personnel identified in the rich list are named in the City Council’s public annual accounts for last year because of their financial relationship with the authority.

The survey also named a former official at North Lanarkshire Council as the highest remunerated local government employee in 2018-19.

Janice Hewitt, the former chief officer of North Lanarkshire Health and Social Care, received £615,550 as part of a restructuring deal after just four years in the job.

It included salary of £146,033, a loss of office payment of £119,401 and a one-off pension payment of £350,116.

Airdrie & Shotts SNP MSP Alex Neil described the package at the time as “utterly outrageous and unjustifiable”, while the council said it was “calculated in line with the council’s procedures”, and was part of changes which would ultimately save money.

Now in its 13th year, the survey found nine of the 10 biggest council bonuses in the UK were in Scotland.

The biggest went to Richard Hall, former managing director of Lothian Buses Ltd, which is owned by City of Edinburgh Council.

His £47,817 bonus helped take his basic salary of £169,331 to a total package of £217,669.

In addition to Mr Duthie, five other senior managers at Scottish Event Campus Ltd also got bonuses, which ranged from £22,843 to £26,477.

The bosses of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and Edinburgh Trams Ltd got bonuses of £27,998 and £18,000 respectively.

Overall, the survey found 2,677 local authority employees with more than £100,000 in salary, expenses, bonuses, pensions and redundancy payments last year, the highest since 2013-2014.

However it said that was likely to be an under-estimate.

The number of people receiving more than £100,000 had increased by 226 since 2017-18. Essex Council had the most in this bracket, with 35 employees on six-figure salaries.

The number of council workers receiving more than £150,000 in total was at least 667, up 60 on 2017-18.

On average, each council had just under seven employees on six figures, and 1.7 employees on over £150,000.

The list also found 32 local authority employees who received remuneration packages of more than a quarter of a million pounds in 2018-19.

A total of 25 local authority employees received a loss of office payment of more than £95,000, a new limit enshrined in law but which has yet to be implemented.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The coronavirus crisis means that frontline council services are more crucial than ever, but at the same time household budgets face an enormous squeeze from crushing council tax rises.

“There are plenty of talented people in local authorities who are focused on delivering more for less, but that is needed across the board. The country needs every council to cut out waste and prioritise key services without resorting to punishing tax hikes on their residents.

“These figures should shine a light on the town hall bosses who’ve got it right, but also allow taxpayers to hold to account those who aren’t delivering value for money at this critical time.”

A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “Every year, the TaxPayer’s Alliance publishes this list and every year, without fail, it is wrong.

“The listing for Glasgow City Council includes several people who do not work for the authority and are not paid from tax revenue.

“Like most councils, we routinely publish information on executive pay so it is always available to genuine taxpayers.”

Scottish Conservative local government spokesman Graham Simpson said: “Councils are under immense pressure, and that was the case even before the coronavirus pandemic.

“And while every local authority will need highly-paid, talented people, taxpayers in Glasgow will wonder why the level there is so high.

“It's vital at this time that we recognise the value of council tax workers at the coal face, who are keeping our vital services going.”