MSP slates council managers wage bill

The TaxPayer’s Alliance released an audit of UK council staff receiving salaries in excess of £100,000.

ERC spent a total of £728,558 on six directors and executives in 2011/2012 and £787,763 on seven staff in 2010/2011.

West of Scotland MSP Jackson Carlaw said: “Many residents will see £1.5m for so few staff as a lavish use of council tax. Every penny must be used to protect public services before they line the pockets of executives and directors. I would invite ERC to review the pay situation and offer an explanation to tax payers.”

An ERC spokesman defended the policy, and told The Extra: “East Renfrewhsire council has responsibility for over 400 staff and an annual budget of £212 million. It is imperative that the right calibre of people are recruited to senior management posts and to do this we offer competitive salaries.

“Over six years the council has reduced senior management cost by 33 per cent.”

Glasgow city council also came under fire as it emerged five of their employees make the top 10 for the largest remuneration packages.

In total, the Glasgow authority has, or had, 27 employees earning more than £100,000.

A spokesman said: “These figures have been artificially inflated by redundancy payments. This will save £55.3million from our wage bill every year.”