SOLACE - chief execs to quit if politicians continue with pay attacks

An increasing number of local authority chief executives are considering quitting their posts in part because of relentless political attacks on their pay, the Director-General of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) has claimed.

David Clark said it had become “politically fashionable” to denigrate the role of the local authority chief executive.

“They are an easy target for politicians who cannot get to state-funded bankers who are paid ten times as much,” he said. “They are public servants and therefore find it difficult to fight back, and they work for local authorities who are not particularly well respected and levy the disliked council tax. But any objective view would see this for what it is; sound bite politics trying to score cheap points.”

The Director-General acknowledged that local authority chief executives are well paid, but he pointed out that their salaries do not compare with private sector counterparts running similar sized organisations.

“They are not even the highest paid category of public employees,” he added. “Judges, Vice-Chancellors, the heads of various quangos and government agencies all have higher salaries. Commentators appear to have fallen into the age old trap of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.”

According to SOLACE, despite the large-scale operations and responsibilities of a local government chief executive, the average unitary chief can expect a salary of about £145,000, against a similar private sector role earning £380,000 in the healthcare or a public sector income of £274,000 in higher education.

“It is concerning that a variety of factors are combining to make some chiefs decide this is time to go,” Mr Clark sad. “Good chief executives are worth the money and are needed more than ever as the country struggles to shake off recession. Every day they are running organisations that are trying to keep people in their homes and in work, that are trying to hold together communities damaged by the recession whilst at the same time, by the government’s own admission, running the most efficient part of the public sector.“