BARNSLEY Council has defended a pay rise of almost ten per cent to its second-highest paid employee, who is responsible for children’s services across Barnsley.
The £12,000 pay rise of Barnsley Council’s children’s services director Rachel Dickinson from £125,000 to £137,000 was revealed in figures circulated by the Taxpayers’ Alliance for the financial year to March 31 last year.
The rise equates to 9.6 per cent - far higher than the pay increases seen by most local government and public sector workers over that period.
A whistelblower contacted the Chronicle to highlight the pay rise, alleging it had been authorised to prevent Ms Dickinson leaving to work in another area.
Yesterday Barnsley Council said in a statement: “The role is diverse, with critical responsibilities for our safeguarding functions.
“The salary increase ensures we have suitably experienced staff to deliver these responsibilities while maintaining stability and minimising disruption to services.
“We have one of the best directors of children’s services in the country, who is also the national president for the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.
“We want the best for the children in Barnsley, and this is an important investment to protect and safeguard our children.”
Meanwhile the rest of the statistics from Taxpayers’ Alliance, which suggest Barnsley Council employed the most executives on more than £100,000 a year in the county have been discredited by the council.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance’s ‘Town Hall Rich List’, identified Barnsley Council as having ten staff members breaching the £100,000 a year pay barrier - but analysis of the figures has revealed four of those were for lower-paid staff members, with their final year’s pay topped up by redundancy payments.
In fact, the authority now has only six members of staff with six figure salaries - two down on last year.
Diana Terris, chief executive of Barnsley Council, said: “Many millions of pounds are being invested to make Barnsley a thriving place to live, work and visit.
“We’re a large, complex organisation with an annual budget in excess of £500 million per annum.
“Having dealt with the consequences of austerity for many years significant savings have had to be found. Nevertheless, we have had to remain competitive in the market place to ensure that we can deliver our ambitious plans for Barnsley.
“The information from the Taxpayer’s Alliance is not new information, is out of date and in some places incorrect. The actual numbers of officers receiving salaries of £100k or more have decreased from eight to six during the period reported.
“We’re open and transparent about the salaries of our senior officers.”
