A leading opposition councillor has lashed out at “public sector fat cats" after new figures revealed how much the highest-earning Bristol City Council officer was paid last year.
Clean Air Zone communication and engagement director Nicki Beardmore was one of three contractors who cost more council taxpayers' money than the authority’s chief executive, with the authority paying £218,005 to secure her services, according to the council’s accounts.
The other two interim senior officers were project manager Colin Molton, who earned £180,582 for 10 months’ work from April 2020 to January this year, and specialist project manager Nigel Owens, whose services cost £179,337.
READ MORE: Complaints of bullying and shouting by councillors in South Gloucestershire
The annual draft statement of accounts also reveals that former director of homes and landlord services Julian Higson was given a £26,971 pay-off as “compensation for loss of office”, when he left City Hall in December last year.
Conservative human resources spokesman Cllr Richard Eddy has criticised the huge wage bill.
The local authority insists hiring highly paid agency staff “is not unusual” in the sector and that the post-holders worked on “complex and high-risk council projects where specialist knowledge, skills and experience is required”.
However, Cllr Eddy said: “It beggars belief that three top council managers earn more than the head of the organisation, the chief executive.
“I have long criticised a culture of ‘feather-bedding’ in Bristol City Council, where senior officers are paid telephone-digit salaries by the long-suffering Bristol taxpayer.
“This report seems to confirm that this council rewards and actively encourages public sector fat cats.
“This practice also makes a mockery of the council’s much-vaunted 10-to-1 pay ratio, where the highest-paid member of staff is paid no more than 10 times the pay of the lowest-paid employee.”
The council’s pay policy excludes contractors who are not direct employees.
£270K in 15 months
Cllr Eddy told a meeting of the HR committee on Thursday (July 22) that members had previously expressed “grave dissatisfaction” with Mr Molton’s employment as an interim contractor - a position which does not receive pension contributions, holiday pay or sick leave.
The Bishopsworth councillor said the cross-party committee had criticised the fact it had not interviewed or selected Mr Molton for his previous role as interim executive director of growth and regeneration in 2017, and that it had passed a unanimous resolution calling for the termination of his employment as soon as a replacement was found.
The accounts show that although Stephen Peacock was appointed permanently in the role in November 2019, his predecessor remained on the City Hall payroll until January 2021 as a project manager, earning £269,646 from council coffers over those 15 months.
Head of human resources Mark Williams told the meeting that Mr Molton was no longer paid by the city council and now had a role with the West of England Combined Authority as interim project director for the regeneration of Temple Quarter.
The documents reveal the city council’s chief executive, head of paid service Mike Jackson, was paid a £169,538 salary in 2020/21, the same as Mr Peacock and then-executive director of people Jacqui Jensen.
Mr Peacock and Ms Jensen, unlike Mr Jackson, also received £36,163 in employer’s pension contributions, taking their total package to £205,701.
Ex-homes and landlord services director Mr Higson received £115,750 in salary, fees and allowances and £17,259 pension contributions for nine months’ employment on top of his £26,971 payoff, amounting to £159,980 for the financial year.
Redundancy pay-outs
But the total cost of exit packages for all city council employees was slashed from £991,000 in 2019/20 to £159,000 during 12 months in which staff turnover was seriously reduced by the pandemic.
Only 15 workers, including seven compulsory redundancies, received a pay-off compared with 46 the year before, and all of them were on salaries under £40,000.
The council papers say fees paid in respect of interim staff are the “costs incurred by the council to secure the individuals’ services on this basis and not the amounts these individuals actually received (which will have been lower)”.
They include a City Leap programme manager paid £108,737 between April and December 2020, and a commercial consultant-turned-executive director to Bristol Heat Network, who cost the council £137,699.
At a meeting of audit committee on Monday, July 26, Conservative Cllr Jonathan Hucker asked why three contractors were paid more than the chief exec.
Council's response
The council’s written reply said: “The job holders referred to are hired through the council’s managed service provider Guidant and the costs are those paid to the agency and not what the worker receives direct.
“These job holders have worked on complex and high-risk council projects where specialist knowledge, skills and experience is required.
“Hiring on this basis is not unusual and is a regular occurrence across the sector.
“Any interim assignment which lasts for longer than six months requires the chief executive to approve the extension of the appointment. This has been provided in these cases.”
The authority said that of the three, only Ms Beardmore is still contracted by the council.
Want our best stories with fewer ads and alerts when the biggest news stories drop? Download our app on iPhone or Android
