TaxPayers’ Alliance reveal which Fenland staff received more than £100,000 in salary packages last year

As households in Fenland face higher council tax bills at the start of the new financial year its chief executive and three of its top officers have been named on the latest ‘Town Hall Rich List’.

Published by the TaxPayers’ Alliance – a national body which fights to reform taxes and public services, to cut waste and speak up for British taxpayers – the list outlines local government’s highest earners across the country.

In 2018-19 there were at least 2,667 council employees who received total remuneration in excess of £100,000. That’s 226 more than in 2017-18, and the highest number since 2013-14.

A total of 667 council employees nationally earned over £150,000 and that includes Cambridgeshire’s chief executive Gillian Beasley and Fenland’s chief executive, Paul Medd.

The list highlights 32 local authority employees who received remuneration in excess of a quarter of a million pounds in 2018-19. However, there were none of those in our area, although the biggest remuneration package in our region was received by Peterborough’s corporate director for growth and regeneration - £243,397.

All this while about 21 per cent of children in Fenland are living in poverty, according to a report published two years, and the average full-time wage is just £28,600 a year, but many people in this area are on zero hours contracts earning the minimum wage, which was £8.21 in 2019.

Although Fenland District Council did not put their share up this year, Council Tax bills still rose with Cambridgeshire County Council’s portion rising by an average of £47.07.

Fenland’s chief executive Paul Medd earned £143,147 with an additional £2,000 in benefits last year, plus £24,912 pension making his total salary package worth £170,085. The Prime Minister’s current salary is £158,000.

The remaining three members of Fenland’s management team, Carol Pilson, Peter Catchpole and Gary Garford, earned well over £80,000 each.

According to the Taxpayers Alliance two corporate directors - and it does not specify their responsibilities each earned £86, 761, with £8,400 of expenses and a further £14,968 worth of pension, making their total package worth £109,391 each.

One officer earned £147,500 - but did not have any additional benefits, and a council spokesman said this was paid for interim chief finance officers prior to the current appointment of Peter Catchpole to the role in February last year.

Previously the council had a management team of four but Richard Cassidy has left and his post was not filled.

Fenland council has signed up to a national agreement on chief officers’ pay which means it has no choice but to pay the going amount. However, it has previously been pointed out that Mr Medd’s salary is a lot less than predecessor, Tim Pilsbury’s.

Mr Medd was appointed at a lower wage and has not had any annual increments, other than the set national annual wage rise, since. It has been previoulsy argued it is necessary to pay the high wages in order to secure the ‘right’ people for the job.

Comparing Fenland to neighbouring authorities showed our district was neither the highest paying nor the lowest.

East Cambridgeshire’s chief executive officer earned a basic wage of £148,281, which with other payments and pension contributions rose to £180,805.

The Ely-base authority also has three members in its management team and all earned more than their Fenland counterparts. One undisclosed officer earned a basic salary of £157,500 - but had no other payments. The director of operations earned £100,445 which rose to £121,129 with everything else added while director of commercial had a package worth a total of £108,526.

West Norfolk borough council paid its officers the least. The executive director of central and community services had the package worth the most with a total of £103,380, although his basic salary was £83,137, which was topped up with the biggest expenses claim of £8,604. The executive director of finance (section 151 officer) earned £84,681, with a total package worth £103,162 and finally the executive director of environment and planning had the biggest basic salary at £87,081, but had the package worth the least at £101,910.

South Holland District Council, was not included in the Taxpayers Alliance’s table as it either failed to publish its 2018/19 accounts in time to be included, or it did not have any employees paid enough to qualify or they share some or all of their officers.

At Cambridgeshire County Council there are nine officers earning over £100,000 a year - there were only two job titles given.

The executive director of place and economy earned a total of £156,054, and chief executive Gillian Beasley was paid a total of £101,673 for her work with the county council. She is also joint chief executive of Peterborough City Council where she was paid the same amount.

But council leader Coun Steve Count was quick to point out at county level these staffing costs, like that of Mrs Beasley, are halved, in all but one case (finance officer), as the authority shares its chief officers with Peterborough City Council.

He praised Mrs Beasley and said there is no comparison between the county council and the local district councils when it comes to workload. He pointed out just at the county council Mrs Beasley is in charge of an organisation with 4,700 and a budget of £600million.

“I can’t change the world, but I can try to change our bit at Cambridgeshire County Council, and we have done that by halving those costs by sharing our officers – that is a massive step forward,” he said.