During 2022 Northumberland Unitary Council Leader, Glen Sanderson promised the public that he would, in the true ultra right wing style of Putin or Farage, tackle the pay levels of Council officers to cut £1m from the wages bill while ignoring the fact that his Council has an adopted job evaluation scheme and therefore pays the accepted ‘rate for the job’.
His 2022 public promise glamorous Glen as he has been known by his mates for years made the pledge after it was revealed that in his party's view the council was paying huge sums to a large number of top officers.
Shortly after his promise was made he pushed up top officers' pay again when he recruited a new Chief Executive on a starting salary of £199,000. With the numbers rising from 20 paid more that £100k in 2022 to 26 in 2024 an unmitigated failure when tested against his previous promise.
The Council has since its inception in 2009 listed all posts with salaries over £50,000, to elected members then in 2020/21 a change to the Councils constitution forced in via the Council's audit committee brought the full list onto the Councils final accounts and on to the Councils website.
With his neighbours and locals commenting quite often asking how he has time to lead a Council when as a farmer during these post Brexit times he needs to spend more time watching his crops grow fatter every day and running his agri business. But ploughing on so to say and not delivering his promises at Council level he has recently decided to increase high level staff further.
In the background of his Chief Executive being remunerated close to a quarter of a million pound per annum following Glen accepting the begging bowls of officers delivered through his secret cabinet of decision makers, councillors attended their March 26 meeting dizzy through social media comments asking them most just couldn't answer.
So at this week's Council the Leader introduced a new job valued at £140,000. Some councillors were apoplectic, with a long standing lady councillor from the North of the county taking to social media with this message:
Northumberland County Council
** £100,000 + salaries **
At yesterday’s meeting, which you can watch back via * (Northumberland TV), the Council agreed to create a new Director post on a salary of £140,000.
I voted AGAINST this as did other Independent colleagues and a couple of Reform with one Labour abstention.
Recently, NCC was found to have the highest number of staff paid over £100,000 in the North East region for the FIFTH year in a row. Despite assurances, new posts with these level salaries continue to be created each year.
I was rather surprised that the vast majority of Reform Councillors supported this given their stated aim of ;
“Reform UK aims to reduce "mind-blowing" local government waste by capping high salaries and cutting administrative costs. Proposals focus on stopping council tax hikes, reducing the number of executives earning over £100,000”
The Council labeled this week in the press by an MP as incompetent showed signs of the leadership breaking up with we suspect Reform gaining over the short term, the Councillor from the north’s advice to watch proceedings on tv are very valid and you will see the crumbling administration at first hand as it begins its journey towards dust blown away into history
Notes
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-county-council-wage-savings-25066598
https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/politics/new-chief-executive-at-northumberland-county-council-set-to-pocket-ps199000-salary-3896979
https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/NorthumberlandCountyCouncil/media/About-the-Council/transparency/structure%20and%20salaries/Senior-Management-Salary-Information-1-April-2025.pdf
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