Senior council officers receive pay rises of around £10,000

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

A council’s eight most senior officers are to receive pay rises of around £10,000 and more.

A decision backed by a majority of Monmouthshire County Councillors will see its chief executive Paul Matthews receive a pay rise of £9,792 over the next two years taking his salary to £141,000 in the 2026/27 financial year.

Deputy chief executive Peter Davies, who is also the most senior financial officer, known as the section 151 officer, will see his pay increase as well.

The band A rate will rise from £100,854 in April 2024 to £112,000 in April 2026 with pay points one to three for the post increasing to £114,000 and £116,000.

Strategic directors

The council’s two strategic directors Will McClean and Jane Rogers, who are responsible for education including the economy and social services, respectively, will see their salaries rise to £103,000 a year and £104,500 respectively by April 2026.

Chief officers for law and governance, James Williams, and place, Craig O’Connor, will see their salaries increase to £106,000 over the same period while two other chief officer posts will carry salaries of up to £85,000 and £88,000 a year.

The increases are being phased in over two years meaning all will receive pay rises from this month and Mr Matthews’ salary will rise to £136,000 this year from £131,208.

As a result the council’s bill for the eight top posts will increase by £34,332 this year to £817,500 while in the 2026/27 financial year it will grow by £65,514 to £851,000.

Councillor Ben Callard, the Labour cabinet member responsible for finance, said the changes are being introduced over two years to limit the impact on the council’s medium term financial plan.

He also said a restructure of the council’s senior leadership has produced a £170,000 saving which he said would result in a net saving of £135,000 this year.

‘Fairness’

The Llanfoist and Govilon councillor said: “I believe this represents fairness and helps safeguard quality officer leadership within the authority and supports the aim of providing high quality, good value services to residents of Monmouthshire.”

The council agreed to a review of senior salaries in July 2024 and set up a cross party committee though the main Conservative opposition and the Independent Group didn’t take their places.

The council last reviewed senior salaries in 2009 and put forward a review as it fears being unable to attract candidates with pay falling behind other councils in Wales. When the review was established the council also said it had to compete with salaries over the border and a competitive jobs market in Bristol and east along the M4.

Cllr Callard said when the council recently advertised for a new head of planning it didn’t receive a single external application.

The committee considered a report produced by an independent consultant and the council also sought the opinion of the Independent Renumeration Panel for Wales.

The council committee discounted options to pay salaries in line with the largest councils and to bring pay in line with the mid point on the salary range instead backing increases in accordance with the median salary range.

Salary

As a result Mr Matthews’ new salary is described as at the lower end of Welsh council chief executives and also means the number of councils paying lower ranked senior officers more than Monmouthshire’s top job is reduced. That is anticipated will increase the pool of future applicants for the role.

Conservative councillor for Abergavenny Pen y Fal ward, Maureen Powell, said she backed the proposals.

She said: “If you want to keep the high quality officers you’ve got to pay them a decent increase. It might seem a lot to us as we don’t have that sort of money but it is a great responsibility they’re doing.”

No councillors spoke against the increases and the proposal was passed with 29 councillors voting in favour and 15 against with one abstention. All of the senior leadership team left the chamber during the discussion and vote.