Suffolk County Council headquarters
Endeavour House, Ipswich.
ES 27 03 07
Council spin doctor will earn ‘up to £700-a-day’
By Graham Dines
Monday, June 7, 2010
6:00 AM
SUFFOLK councillors have snubbed the coalition Government’s bid to curb local authority salaries and appointed a temporary spin doctor on a pay scale higher than that of the Prime Minister.
The county’s new head of communications, who will start work on June 14, will be on a temporary six-month contract with a salary of between £400 and £700 a day.
With councils facing a massive cut in grant which could lead to services being axed and staff sacked, the Tory-run county says defiantly that the new post will save money for taxpayers, even though the top rate works out at more than David Cameron’s £142,500 salary.
The council’s head of communications left Endeavour House recently by mutual agreement.
After drafting in expert help from Essex County Council to advise Suffolk’s media operations, the authority has appointed an as-yet-unnamed temporary head of communications.
One of the jobs he or she will be asked to do is to “develop a pro-active approach to communications, particularly in media management, including campaigns, media, public relations, marketing, events, publications, branding and web”.
The £400 to £700 a day pay scale means the post holder will be earning between £2,000 and £3,500 a week – the upper figure dwarfing the Prime Minister’s salary. The decision was greeted with amazement by the Opposition and the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
Liberal Democrat leader Kathy Pollard called the pay scale “outrageous” and said the county had so far not told her of the appointment.
She said: “What would the public rather have – four new firefighters or one head of communications? We all know what the answer would be.
“The council is supposed to be belt-tightening as it looks to save £153million over the next 10 years. There has been a significant increase in the costs of the communications department in the past 12 months and the council is now having yet another attempt to find a head of communications.”
Taxpayers’ Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott said: “Spending on public relations and communications at local council level is far too high already – £700 a day for six months will leave Suffolk taxpayers with an astronomical bill, all so that the local authority can tell residents how great they are.
“An age of austerity is coming and the county council should make do with the communications staff they already have. They could easily cut back on the work they do that is targeted at their own residents.
“Most council tax payers would rather have better services than a council publication about better services.”
A Suffolk County Council spokesperson said: “A temporary head of communications will start on June 14 and whose job will be to implement the recommendations of the recent communications and marketing review. The review will deliver significant savings to the county.”
9 comments
Andrea Hill has now invested over half a million pounds of council tax money in her own personal addiction to strategic consultants and neurolinguistic programming. There is not a single scrap of proof that this has resulted in any savings whatsoever and therefore further extortionate amounts are being spent on "spin" to convince us that the Mad Hatter's teaparty at SCC HQ is in fact going rather well. The worst aspect of this is that the most vulnerable in society will be footing the bill eg cutbacks in respite care or dementia care.
Report this comment
Sally Wainman
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Where is the protest from Gummer Jr?
Report this comment
Joseph Trotter
Monday, June 7, 2010
Lets not forget this is on top of the excessive spending on some company called fields of learning the excessive salary of the CEO who recently said she was cutting these costs now this what else lurks in the cupboard and how many front line jobs or hidden cuts to taxpayer direct services will pay for these fancy ideas whose purpose we must suppose is to promote the grandizement of those at the top - WRITE TO THE PM CAMERON THIS IS THE CRAZY TYPE OF SPENDING HE NEEDS TO STOP BEFORE WE ALL PAY A VERY HIGH PRICE
Report this comment
Penny Watch
Monday, June 7, 2010
Why? why does the Suffolk County Council need a spin doctor, for what purpose is a spin doctor needed, haven't we seen enough of spin doctors with the past New Labour Government, were they able to save this country from going almost bankrupt, answer no, and who will paid the £700 a day, yes, it's the hard working lower paid who will suffer as usual, no-one is worth £700 a day, to the pensioners that is equivalent to eight weeks pension to a married man, for a lifetime of working, absolutely disgusting
Report this comment
Keith Drury
Monday, June 7, 2010
this is disgraceful and i suppose it will be us who will be paying for them.
Report this comment
lynne sherman
Monday, June 7, 2010
I'm finally convinced that there IS a parallel universe. It's inhabited by local authority managers and the like. Different rules apply there, and those that govern economics have apparently been consigned to the rubbish bin (where they will presumably be logged and then dumped for good)
Report this comment
Percy Flage
Monday, June 7, 2010
This is a taunt, as I see it, and a blatant disregard for the economic mess we're in. Shame on them....
Report this comment
Nemesis
Monday, June 7, 2010
So knocking out Tory propaganda is worth £700 of our money per diem? Readers should also be aware of the enormous on-cost of council staff employed specifically to wreck the school system. This person is no doubt going to "communicate" that which we already know to us with added spin. Given the trough in which the councillors have embedded their snouts, this is bad news for any honest decent person in the county.
Report this comment
T Doff
Monday, June 7, 2010
What the heck are Suffolk County Council on? This is really going to upset a lot of tax payers! They are like the oldnew Labour throwing our cash around and not listening to a word the people are saying. Communication is about listening and responding and the success of the communicator is in the hands of the recipient. Can I have my money now?
Report this comment
sue douglas
Monday, June 7, 2010