The agenda Children’s services

LGCplus.com 9 August 2012 Local Government Chronicle 11

ANALYSIS

THE TOP LINE AND THE SUBTEXT Ruth Keeling, chief reporterTHE TOP LINE AND THE SUBTEXT

Analysis continues overleaf Plus expert comment

The agenda Senior pay ‘‘ What real justifi cation can there be for spending £50,000 on a process where the outcome is not really in doubt?Peter John (Lab), leader, Southwark LBC, p12

CHIEF PAY – THE LANDSCAPE SINCE JANUARYCouncil %

changeFORMER CEX salary

NEW CEX salary

First time CEX?

External or internal?

Brentwood BC1 240% £30,000 £102,000 Internal

Hambleton DC1 60% £62,500 £100,000 Internal

Barnsley MBC 2% £138,000 £141,000 External

Epping Forest DC 2% £110,000 £112,000 External

Gateshead Council 0% £157,307 £157,307 Internal

Southwark LBC -3% £166,275 £160,767 Internal

Chichester DC -4% £115,000 £110,000 Internal

Calderdale MBC -7% £147,000 £137,000 External

Rochdale MBC -7% £140,000 £130,000 External

Trafford MBC -9% £170,000 £155,000 Internal

Plymouth City Council2 -9% £171,498 £156,000 External

Corby BC -11% £92,250 £81,666 Internal

Wigan MBC -15% £193,974 £165,000 Internal

Bath & North East Somerset Council -16% £178,000 £150,000 External

Hertfordshire CC -16% £203,427 £170,000 Internal

Fylde BC -17% £101,000 £83,934 Internal

Warrington BC -28% £165,866 £120,000 External

Reading BC -29% £154,000 £110,000 Internal

Chiltern DC & South Buckinghamshire DC3 -40% £210,000 £125,000 Internal

Forest Heath DC & St Edmundsbury BC3 -54% £227,821 £105,000 External1Joint chief dissolved. 2Interim on £1,000 a day and a three-day week. 3New joint chief.

councils opting for such can-didates. This approach has now accounted for the majority of appointments in all four salary trackers.

John Schultz, consultant for Alace, links this trend closely to reduced salaries. “Levels of first-time and inter-nal chief executive appoint-ments continue at a high level – predictably, since that helps councils keep senior salary levels down,” he said.

Internal appointments are also attractive because they avoid recruitment costs, as Southwark LBC’s leader Peter John (Lab) points out (see comment, overleaf).

Internal candidates who are known by members and staff, and who know the organisation may also be viewed as less risky appoint-ees in what is a turbulent time for local government.

Louise Tibbert, Hertford-shire CC’s head of organisa-tional development and HR and the Public Sector People Managers’ Association’s lead officer on pay and reward, said her council had worked

COMMENT

GOING OUT TO MARKETStephen Houghton (Lab), leader, Barnsley MBC

After all we need to get the best from them over the next few years.

Third, an obvious point – could the new chief executive work with members? In particular myself as leader. Chemistry matters. No matter how good someone might be, they have to build relationships beyond the officer core. Members matter as do partners. They also have to manage cross party as well

bring in new ideas. That is not to say internal candidates weren’t good but the opportunity to have a rethink proved attractive as the sector moved into a new era.

Second, were we looking for a directive or collegiate approach? In our case we wanted a more inclusive style, one which would develop the senior management team individually and collectively.

as informing and delivering the majority group’s agenda. Personality is important.

Of course salary matters. Under normal circumstances a council like ours cannot afford well-paid existing chief executives and we would be looking for a rising star.

But every cloud has a silver lining. Austerity and realignment of pay, coupled with the chance to

make a real difference in an area that has real challenges, meant we had a stronger field than would normally have been expected.

We were able to appoint Diana Terris who not only fitted the bill but could hit the ground running.

Austerity did not mean no chief executive, but it did mean greater accessibility to a high-quality field. As they say timing is everything.