Dumfries and Galloway Council boss gets large pay rise as tough budget decisions loom
Council chief to earn over £200,000 as cuts to public services are considered.
A huge pay increase for the boss of Dumfries and Galloway Council has come under scrutiny this week as the local authority prepares to make drastic service cuts to balance next year’s budget.
Dawn Roberts, the council’s chief executive, has been awarded a 13 percent wage hike that will take her salary to just over £200,000 per year.
And following a senior leadership restructure, the council has gone from six to 16 bosses that are now earning over £100,00 per year.
Meanwhile, lowest paid staff at the local authority pocket just £13.06 per hour.
At the end of next month, at the annual budget setting meeting, the council will be forced to make tough decisions on whether or not to keep community centres, swimming pools, and other public buildings open to help reduce a financial deficit of around £30 million over the next few years.
The large pay increase for the council boss was made at a national level through the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) – rather by the council itself – and it means that the chief executive of every local authority in Scotland will benefit.
It is understood that Dawn Roberts, who been earning £177,009 a year, will get an extra £23,134 in her annual pay packet.
This is more than the UK Prime Minister, who earns a combined salary of approximately £172,000, made up of an MP’s basic salary (around £91,346) and an additional ministerial salary for the PM role (about £80,807).
Councillor Linda Dorward, former council co-leader and depute leader of the Labour Group, raised the issue at the full council meeting on Monday (yesterday).
She said: “I’m going to turn to the elephant in the room, which is the COSLA-agreed local authority chief executive salary increase of between 13 and 23 percent across all local authorities.
“I’m raising this on behalf of constituents.”
Councillor Dorward referred to a statement made by the council’s convener, Councillor Katie Hagmann, about the pay framework for chief executives not being reviewed since 2001, and that “many chief executives of similarly-sized organisations are paid considerably more.”
The Labour councillor continued: “These changes agreed by others, which I and others view as unconscionable and ill-timed, have seen six-figure salaries soar during a cost of living crisis.
“And they have omitted the fact that chief executive pay has increased every years on the basis of the annual pay award set by COSLA – and agreed with the Joint Trade Unions in the same way as every other council employee.”
Councillor Hagmann responded: “I am no longer the resources spokesperson on finance and resources.
“However, during that item which was discussed during COSLA leaders, I was indeed the spokesperson (then).
“The emphasis is on spokesperson. It is not my personal opinion. I don’t have an opportunity to feed into the debate, I’m simply given a mandate by the leaders of local government authorities across Scotland.”
Dawn Roberts did not respond directly to Councillor Dorward’s comments, however Lorna Meahan, executive director of Enabling and Customer Services, said: “Chief executive pay is determined nationally, but chief officer pay is determined locally within the scales that are set out by COSLA and SJC (Scottish Joint Council).
“Some local authorities – but not this local authority – have attached their senior pay as a percentile of the chief exec’s pay. This will therefore have consequences for those local authorities, but that’s never been the case for this local authority.
“So, the award of the chief exec’s pay does not have any direct impact on other chief officials in this council.”