Daily Telegraph: 220,000 council boss paid more than the PM Chief executive's salary 'totally unjustifiable', say critics

By Lucy Cockcroft

A COUNCIL was criticised yesterday for its "totally unjustifiable'' decision to award its new chief executive a £ 220,000 salary - £ 31,000 more than Gordon Brown earns as Prime Minister.

Andrea Hill, 44, will be paid £ 70,000 more a year than the man she is replacing as boss of Suffolk county council.

She was hired after a recruitment agency persuaded the authority to increase its initial pay package of £ 176,000 to £ 220,000.

Leaders of the council, which is in line to be wound down by 2010 as part of a local government reorganisation, said they accepted advice that the original salary was not "sufficiently competitive'' to attract the best applicants.

However, Mr Brown is paid £ 188,849 to lead the country.

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: "I think many people will be surprised to hear that the person in charge of Suffolk earns more than the person in charge of the whole of Britain. At a time when Suffolk is facing a squeeze on services, people find it very hard to understand how such a large rise from an already generous £ 150,000 salary can be justified.''

Julian Swainson, the leader of the Suffolk council's Labour opposition, argued that, with the future of the council in doubt, its financial priority should not have been to increase the chief executive's salary.

"I can well understand the anger felt by people who are struggling to make ends meet when they hear that the county council is prepared to pay this kind of money for an executive senior officer,'' he said.

"We have opposed this appointment on this salary and we shall continue to oppose this appointment. It is totally unjustifiable.''

A survey last year showed that five local authority employees in England were earning more than £ 200,000 a year. The highest were the heads of Kent, on £ 230,000 a year, and Wandsworth in London, on £ 227,000 a year. Mrs Hill, who has 20 years experience in local government, is departing as chief executive of Bedfordshire county council, which is also being abolished.

This is not the first time her salary has been controversial. While chief executive of Colchester Borough Council, a position she took up in 2001, she attracted criticism when her pay nudged £ 100,000 a year.

She defended her salary then, saying that her decisions had saved the council millions of pounds.

Jeremy Pembroke, the Conservative leader of Suffolk county council, defended the appointment.

"The people who live in Suffolk need and deserve the very best,'' he said.

"People expect and deserve high-class services at the lowest cost; therefore it is imperative the county has a chief executive of a very special calibre.

"The market rates dictate that in the East of England the band of £ 154,000 to £ 220,000 is correct.

"In appointing Andrea, I know we have acquired just the person.''