An inquest will be held into “obscene” salary increases made to senior city council officers at a time when major cuts to services and job losses were looming, The Oxford Times has discovered.

The city council’s chief executive Peter Sloman saw his salary rise from £126,361 to £141,031, an increase of 11.6 per cent, putting his salary just short of that of the Prime Minister.

And at the same time, the number of senior officers being paid between £50,000 and £150,000 at the city council increased by more than 50 per cent — from 20 to 31.

The rises were agreed in April 2009 and were effective from the same month. The council said senior staff received no pay rise this April.

But with reductions of up to 25 per cent now expected to be imposed on Town Hall spending, senior officers are to face a call for their salaries to return to what they were before the 2009 increase.

Details of the pay rises for senior officers will go before the city council’s audit and governance committee on Monday.

The accounts report will show that the chief executive, who received a remuneration package totalling £169,519 that included pension contributions, was just one of the senior officers to get a double-figure percentage salary increase in 2009/10.

The council’s city services director, Tim Sadler, saw his pay go up from £85,117 to £109,080, an increase of 28 per cent, with the total remuneration £131,114. The city regeneration director, Mel Barrett, with a 15.45 per cent increase, now has a £109,080 salary.

But the largest percentage increase went to the Town’s Hall ‘job-share’ chief finance officers, Sarah Fogden and Penny Gardner, who received a 34 per cent increase, with the total salary paid for the job increasing from £57,720 to £77,700.

Green Party councillor David Williams said he would put a motion to the full council proposing it reverse the increases.

He said: “I want to know why these obscene increases have been allowed. They seemed to have slipped through the executive board. In view of the Government’s plans to reduce funding to local government by 25 per cent, and a 25 per cent decline in services, there will be less to manage.”

Mr Williams, a member of the city’s audit and governance committee, added: “What has happened is totally unfair.”

The city council’s branch secretary of the union Unison, Caroline Glendinning, said: “This comes as a kick in the teeth for all council workers. We have had minuscule below-inflation pay increases for two years in the region of 1.6 per cent.”

Oxford City Council’s head of human resources, Simon Howick, said: “The management team has proved its worth by reducing costs within the council by 28 per cent since they were brought together 30 months ago and they have improved performance in 75 per cent of the service areas measured.

“We need to offer salaries comparable to other public sector bodies if it is to retain a top team able to manage the council effectively.”

Mark Fysh, Unison branch secretary for the county council, described the increases as “absolutely obscene, gross and totally unjustified”.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said: “Many local people have had little or no pay increase themselves.

“The council needs to take a hard look at keeping things fairer, especially with all the pressure for cuts in services.

“It’s wrong when there appears to be one rule for those at the top and another for those at the bottom.”

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price defended the increases and said they reflected the market rate for the jobs and had been agreed following independent advice.

He said rises also reflected the quality of the work of the individuals.

He added: “These are not jobs that are easy, they are 24-hours-a-day jobs.

“This was a decision made in the early part of 2009, in a different economic situation and set in the context of significant improvements in council services.

“It’s not a decision that reflects today’s climate.”