Senior salaries and pay policy

Introduction

The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2011 (Statutory Instrument 2011/817) requires local authorities to publish

The number of employees whose salary in that year was at least £50,000 in brackets of £5,000
Details of salary and job title of certain senior employees whose salary is at least £50,000
Employees whose salaries are £150,000 or more must also be identified by name

In addition, the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires us to publish a list of responsibilities and details of bonuses and ‘benefits in kind’ for all employees whose salary exceeds £50,000.

If you have any questions about this information, please email jwjenkins@somerset.gov.uk

Pay policy

We are required by Section 38 of the Localism Act 2011 to produce Pay Policy Statements, which include the authority’s policy on pay distribution and the relationship between the salary of chief officers and the salary of other staff.

The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires local authorities to publish the pay multiple, defined as the ratio between the highest paid taxable earning for the given year and the median earnings figure of the whole of the authority’s workforce.

The measure must

Cover all elements of remuneration that can be valued
Use the median earnings figure as the denominator, which should be that of all employees of the local authority on a fixed date each year, coinciding with reporting at the end of the financial year, and
Exclude changes in pension benefits, which due to their variety and complexity cannot be accurately included in a pay multiple disclosure

The pay multiple can be found within the Pay Policy Statement at Section 9 – Chief Officer Remuneration relative to other Council employees.

If you have any questions about any of this information please email: CJRussell@somerset.gov.uk

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