Overpaid at our expense

Of greater importance was a second motion, discussed in private, to approve proposed changes to the council's senior management arrangements as set out in report EC742. In due course we may learn a bit more about the contents of report EC742 but two facts are already clear.

Firstly, the district council is seriously overmanaged. Malvern Hills is the smallest district in the county with a population of some 74,000 and the council has the smallest workforce. But we have by far the largest number of top managers.

The Management Structure in October 2005 consisted of a chief executive, three strategic directors, eight heads of service and an assistant chief executive, whose post was vacant. Ten out of the thirteen were paid over £50,000 pa. All of this was to manage a workforce equivalent to 268 full-time employees. One top manager to 20 employees is not unknown in high-tech industries, but in a district council?

Secondly, our top managers are seriously overpaid. The key determinant of local authority salary scales is the size of the population it serves. Not only is Malvern Hills the smallest district in the county, it is among the smallest 25 per cent in England. But this has not deterred our councillors from paying salaries appropriate to the largest 25 per cent of the district councils in England, most of whom are in less salubrious area than Malvern. According to a study by the West Midlands Local Government Association in January 2005, the maximum salaries of directors were 9 per cent above the national average for councils under 100,000 population and heads of service had maximum salaries 10 per cent above the national average for councils under 100,000 population.

Is this why the council cannot afford to keep toilets open for the taxpayers?

Alistair Macmillan, Alexandra Lane, Malvern.