Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is proposing that there should be a full vote of councillors to approve staff salaries over £100,000. Hear him interviewed on Today here.
But the Local Government Association (LGA) have attacked the idea. Sir Steve Bullock, chairman of the LGA's Local Government Group Workforce Board, said:
"It is right that pay for senior staff in the public sector is subject to scrutiny, but this kind of top-down interference is simply unnecessary.
"Councils are leading the way in being transparent about all their spending, and many authorities already have remuneration committees with independent members from outside the authority that examine senior salaries."
So the LGA is opposing rank-and-file councillors having a say and imposing proper checks and balances. It’s not top-down interference – it’s councillors having a say. These remuneration committees are a sham – operating behind closed doors with little democratic input.