Council accused of ‘rewarding failure’ as high earners soar

Bristol City Council has been accused of “rewarding failure rather than success” after the number of staff on salaries above £50,000 soared by over a third.

The authority’s accounts show that 363 employees earned at least that much in 2022/23, compared with 268 the year before – a rise of 95 or 35 per cent.

City Hall chiefs say the big increase is largely down to a cost-of-living pay award and progression of some workers from an “appointment rate” to a higher “competency rate” that rewards ability.

The figures, revealed in the council’s annual draft statement of accounts, are in addition to the 18 most senior officers and highest paid interim bosses who were paid more than £50,000.

They also exclude the 112 teachers and other employees in schools who received at least that amount, up from 71 in 2021/22.

My comments about rewarding failure where about council management missing savings targets by a large margin.
We need to be realistic about the savings that we are asking our employees to execute. https://t.co/Yo5zVlsMVa pic.twitter.com/kGEeMnCoyV

— Cllr David Wilcox (@David_on_a_bike) June 6, 2023

Green councillor for Lockleaze David Wilcox asked at a meeting of the council’s audit committee: “Why is there such a massive increase, and was that pay increase in line with other employees?

“Considering some of the things we’ve had before us at audit today to say we have not met our targets for savings, are we rewarding failure rather than success in terms of our higher management?”

Bristol City Council principal accountant Tony Whitlock said: “From a purely financial point of view it’s mainly in the lower bands above £50,000, so it’s where people have slipped just into the £50,000 band.

“We have a pay award and we have also got a competency award.

“So it’s largely in the first three bandings – £50,000 to £54,999, £55,000 to £59,999, and £60,000 to £64,999 – where that number has increased.

“It’s purely down to the pay award slipping into that banding now.”

A report to the committee on May 30, said: “The number of non-school employees earning more than £50K has increased by 95, from 268 in 2021/22 to 363 in 22/23.

“Of this increase, 74 are in the first three bands over £50K.

“The majority of these were service managers and relates to an increase in the cost-of-living pay award applied during the year.

“This increase also includes the progression of some staff from an ‘appointment rate’ to a ‘competency rate’.

“This is achieved by evidencing certain performance criteria.”

Last year’s pay award for local government workers was agreed in November, with a flat rate of an extra £1,925 for all council employees across the country, equal to a 10.5 per cent increase for the lowest paid.

It was backdated to April 1, 2022, and meant an average wage rise of about seven per cent.

Main photo: Betty Woolerton

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