Top council officials in Oxford are to be given pay rises of up to 16 per cent over two years, writes Matt Childe.

The pay award has led to accusations that the city council is creating 'a pay elite' among senior officers.

Fourteen top managers have received rises of nearly 11 per cent, taking their pay to between £36,000 and £40,000.

Three directors have been given a seven per cent rise backdated to January 1 this year, taking their pay to between £50,000 and £55,000.

They are expected to get further big increases in January next year, with directors pay rising to more than £57,000 and other top managers to £43,000. Bob Block, the council's chief executive, will receive a pay increase of nine per cent over to two years to £71,000 a year.

All other council staff have had to settle for a pay rise of just three per cent this year and a similar increase next year.

The council claims the inflation-busting pay rise simply brings pay levels in Oxford in line with other local authorities in the South East.

But union officials and some councillors say it is unfair and could lead to resentment among staff.

Green Group councillor Paul Ingram said: "The pay differential in the council is too much. They are paying the higher people too much and this is inevitably going to create resentment and problems." The national pay award for chief officers, agreed in January, included permission for a local review of salaries on top of an overall three per cent pay award.

After studying pay levels at other local authorities, a working group of councillors has awarded pay rises worth up to 16 per cent over two years.

Mr Block said: "There was a national agreement that we should look at pay in comparison with other local authorities and we employed an external body to compare us with other councils in the South East.

"The chief officers were lowly paid and now they are paid in the middle. These are national agreements and we are following them through. We are going to the middle and not pushing the boat out." Martin Gregory, branch secretary of public service union UNISON, said employees would now be seeking an urgent review of pay grades within the council.

He said: "We are saying it is unfair if they do not give similar consideration to the rest of the workforce."

Cllr Ingram said low pay within the council was causing a high turnover of staff, particularly in the benefits office.

He said: "We are hearing that there is a huge turnover of staff of lower grades in the revenue section because they are not paying people enough.

"They are engaging in salaries arms race with other local authorities and claiming that if they do not pay these salaries, other local authorities will get the best people."

Story date: Friday 30 April

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.