LGA responds to Audit Commisison report on chief executive pay offs

16 March 2010

Commenting on the Audit Commission report By Mutual Agreement, Jo Miller, deputy chief executive of the Local Government Association, said:

"We are always happy to work with the government, the Audit Commission and other groups to ensure that taxpayers get the very best value for money. We will look carefully at the detail of today's report.

"The Audit Commission makes it clear that severance deals can be in the interests of the council and the taxpayer, and only a small number of people receiving payments went on to take up other senior council jobs within a year.

"Council chief executives are responsible for huge organisations with budgets of anything up to £1 billion a year, running services that are vital to every family in Britain. Councils need talented people so they can improve on their record as the most efficient part of the public sector. In deciding salary levels they need to balance that with the need for all salaries to be demonstrably reasonable.

"It is right that chief executive pay is subject to public scrutiny. All council senior pay and severance packages are subject to scrutiny by external auditors. Council leaders are very aware of the impact of decisions about senior staff as they are subject to the voters' judgement through the ballot box."

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