West Sussex County Council to ignore call for pay transparency

The Argus reports:

West Sussex County Council is set to ignore Government calls for more transparency over the appointment of highly paid staff.

The council has insisted there is no need for councillors to discuss appointments of staff on more than £100,000 a year.

This is despite guidance from the Department for Communities and Local Government which says the full council is entitled to vote before large salary packages are offered.

The authority is also refusing to name officers earning high salaries in its public accounts.

The move, which will be discussed at a full council meeting on Friday, February 17 has been criticised by opposition councillors.

According to the authority’s latest statement of accounts 19 employees took home more than £100,000 in 2010/11, once pension contributions and other remuneration were taken into consideration.

The highest payment was just under £400,000 to outgoing chief executive Mark Hammond.

His replacement, Kieran Stigant, was paid a total sum of £207,000 last year...