Edinburgh named by Taxpayers' Alliance as handing out biggest council-sector bonus in UK

Former bus boss was top earner

Edinburgh City Council says pay rates are determined by an objective job evaluation scheme

FORMER Lothian Buses boss Richard Hall was today named as receiving the biggest individual bonus of any local authority employee in the UK.

And he was one of three executives from Edinburgh City Council arms-length companies in the top ten of the bonus league drawn up by the Taxpayers’ Alliance as part of their annual Town Hall Rich List.

Mr Hall - who stepped down as managing director of the council-owned bus company at the end of March - was actually employed by Lothian Buses, who also set his bonus of £47,817 and total remuneration in 2018/19 of £234,602.

He is joined in the list of top ten bonus recipients by Marshall Dallas, chief executive of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, who was in third place with a bonus of £27,998 as part of a package totalling £189,952.

Lee Harrison, general manager of Edinburgh Trams Ltd, was joint ninth with a bonus of £18,000, helping him to total remuneration of £138,958.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance said in 2018-19 there were at least 2,667 council employees across the UK who received total remuneration of over £100,000 - 226 more than in 2017-18.

And it called for council taxes to be frozen. Chief executive John O’Connell said: “The coronavirus crisis means that frontline council services are more crucial than ever, but at the same time household budgets face an enormous squeeze from crushing council tax rises.

“The country needs every council to cut out waste and prioritise key services without resorting to punishing tax hikes on their residents.”

The report claims 20 senior local authority sector staff in Edinburgh received total remuneration of over £100,000 in 2018/19.

They included Alistair Gaw, the council’s director of communities and families, Paul Lawrence, director of place, and Stephen Moir, director of resources, all of whom are said to have received £183,175, including pension contributions.

Eric Adair, operations and finance director at EDI Group, is listed as receiving a total of £169,657.

Council chief executive Andrew Kerr is said to have been paid £167,468.

George Lowder, chief executive of Transport for Edinburgh, received £144,281.

John Donnelly, former chief executive of Marketing Edinburgh, was paid £139,200.

And council head of finance Hugh Dunn is shown receiving £132,421.

Nine other unnamed staff are also listed as being paid over £100,000.

The report claims West Lothian has nine council staff paid over £100,000, East Lothian seven and Midlothian three.

The city council pointed out it had cut the number of chief officers from 23 to 19 since 2015.

A spokeswoman said: “We want to promote transparency and accountability within the council and always publish the salaries and expenses of our most senior managers as part of our annual accounts.

“The majority of people identified in this report aren’t, however, directly employed by the council. For those we directly employ, rates of pay are determined by a wholly objective job evaluation scheme aligned to the national pay arrangements for chief officials, which reflect the level of responsibility for the roles concerned.”