Town Hall Rich List 2010

---

Six Merton Council employees paid in excess of £100,000 a year

Six Merton Council employees have been paid in excess of £100,000 a year according to a new report by the Taxpayers' Alliance.

The Town Hall Rich List, which lists local government staff across the country whose total remuneration exceeds £100,000, shows that in the Borough of Merton, Chief Executive Ged Curran earned £178,480 during 2008-9, representing a 5.9% increase on the previous year.

Simon Williams, Director of Community and Housing, enjoyed a 13.3% increase from 2007-8 to take his 2008-9 salary to £127,500. Caroline Holland, Director of Corporate Services, received £123,345 - a 4.7% increase on 2007-8.

Dave Hill, the former Director of Children, Schools and Families earned £108,200 in 2007-8, while Lyn Carpenter, former Director of Environment and Regeneration, earned £102,500 in 2007-8.

The council’s former Head of Civic and Legal Services, David Atkinson, earned £112,500 in 2008-9.

The report also details the £114,226 paid in 2008-9 to Dean Shoesmith, who is the Joint Executive Head of Human Resources - a role shared by Merton and Sutton Councils.

The TaxPayers' Alliance say town hall executive pay appears to be insulated from the wider economic reality.

"Town Hall bosses have had a very good recession at taxpayers' expense. More of them than ever are earning massive amounts and they even enjoyed a healthy pay rise while everyone else was suffering pay freezes, cuts or redundancies,” said TPA Policy Analyst John O’Connell.

“It is unfair that these public servants have been having a whale of a time while the ordinary taxpayers who fund their generous deals have been struggling to survive the recession. Now that most councils are in financial trouble, these senior managers must take serious pay cuts to help make ends meet.”

The TPA say the average pay rise for the council staff on the Town Hall Rich List is five percent. This is compared with a 2.7 percent pay rise for nurses and a 2.3 percent pay rise for teachers.

Since the TaxPayers' Alliance published its first Rich List in 2007, the number of senior staff receiving such large sums has soared. This latest report shows that trend continuing despite the recession.

The full report can be found online at http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/thrl2010.pdf

 

April 9, 2010