Eric Pickles to make councils vet salaries above £100,000

Councillors will have to vet all salaries over £100,000 and to block those that seem excessive under plans set out by the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, which he claims will make local authority pay "democracy-proof" . The localism bill, going through parliament, instructs councils to hold a full meeting to scrutinise their executives' pay deals. Pickles said he would issue guidance recommending that all pay above £100,000 is given such treatment. Research this week revealed that 220 council employees earn more than the prime minister's basic salary of £142,500. Pickles has been forced to correct his claim – made in press releases and on the BBC – that chief executives' pay had risen by 78% between 2002 and 2007, after it emerged he had misquoted an Audit Commission report. The report in fact said chief executive pay in the private sector had risen by 78% – a far greater rise than the 34% increase in councils over a similar period. Pickles has been a persistent and vocal critic of what he sees as excessive pay at the top of councils. The commission's report found that the median salary of executives in the biggest councils was £150,000 in 2007-08, less than university vice-chancellors, and trailing behind chief executives in the private sector where basic salaries were about £400,000, topped up with bonuses of a further £586,000. A spokesman for Pickles said the error did not detract from thrust of the minister's argument. There was, he said, a "long history of issues" with chief executive pay. He added: "A couple of words got cut out. There was a mistake and we have now corrected it." Union leaders have attacked the decision of Hartlepool council on Teesside to increase the salary of its chief executive, Paul Walker, by nearly £10,000 to £168,000 – backdated by two years. The council, which is cutting 86 staff, said it had not revised his pay since 2003. All senior salaries are now published and usually approved in council committees and by the full council when the annual budget is passed. Under the changes, appointments on more than £100,000 a year will require a public vote by councillors. The Local Government Association (LGA) called the decision "unnecessary and top-down" and called for the same mechanism to apply to Whitehall civil servants, with a vote in parliament – something Pickles did not rule out. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This is just part of the checks and balances so that it allows every councillor to consciously make a decision with regard to senior pay. It just seems to me to be a reasonable thing to do." Asked about the LGA's call for senior civil servants' salaries to be debated by MPs, Pickles said: "I don't see any reason why we shouldn't have this kind of debate in the House of Commons." However, he ruled out applying the new rules to head teachers, saying their salaries were for schools to decide. Along with basic salaries, councillors will have to approve bonuses, pension payments and other perks. Sir Steve Bullock, the chairman of the LGA's local government group workforce board, said: "It is right that pay for senior staff in the public sector is subject to scrutiny, but this kind of top-down interference is simply unnecessary. "Councils are leading the way in being transparent about all their spending, and many authorities already have remuneration committees with independent members from outside the authority that examine senior salaries. "We look forward to hearing from ministers whether other parts of the public sector are going to be as transparent as local government, and if MPs will be asked to approve the salaries of civil servants earning more than £100,000." Caroline Flint, the shadow communities secretary, said councils should publish details of low pay as well as high pay to expose exploitation.