Local leaders have warned that high salaries at the new devolved Hampshire authority could trigger something ‘disastrous’, fuelling a ‘brain drain’ from existing councils.
The Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority (HSCCA) has approved new pay scales for its staff, despite concerns that its salary bands could make it harder for local councils to recruit and retain employees.
The HSCCA is a new devolved body covering Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which is currently led by the leaders of Portsmouth, Southampton, Hampshire and Isle of Wight councils.
It forms part of the Government’s devolution agenda, which is separate from the stalled Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) proposals, which aimed to replace county and district councils with larger unitary authorities.
LGR was put on hold in early September after the Government announced it would review the proposals, placing affected councils into a state of uncertainty.
The HSCCA’s new pay bands were outlined in a recent board meeting. It included a range of salaries, the lowest being for apprentices, trainees and interns which ranged from £29,542 to £32,578.
Councillor Steve Pitt, Liberal Democrat leader of Portsmouth City Council, raised concerns that the proposed pay bands could be out of kilter with those of other authorities in the region.
While he said he was ‘all for paying people properly’, he questioned the entry-level salaries, saying they were £4,517 more than what Hampshire pays for the same role, £4,758 more the Isle of Wight, £3,594 more than Portsmouth pays and £3,911 more than Southampton pays.
He questioned whether that is ‘actually appropriate and realistic’, adding:
“Almost £30,000 a year for a trainee or an apprentice just feels a little bit high to me.
“What we don’t want to create an uneven playing field where it’s difficult for the local authorities to recruit because everyone wants to work for the combined authority.”
He warned it could cause a ‘brain drain’ to whatever the new unitaries look like if LGR goes ahead, or the existing councils if it doesn’t. He stressed that councils need existing staff whose advice, support and experience will be vital to transition into successful new unitaries.
Cllr Pitt said:
“We are absolutely going to see people leaving our existing structures to get a job in the combined authority because they’ll see that as a safe haven”.
“I just think we could potentially trigger something disastrous for our own councils if we’re not careful.”
HSCCA chief executive Dr Ruth Adams revealed the authority could eventually grow to have between 500 and 1,000 staff members, although at the minute there were plans for around 50.
In a rare display of agreement, Councillor George Madgwick, Hampshire’s Reform UK leader, said Cllr Pitt had raised a ‘good point’, adding:
“I think there may be an exodus of people, because people always go for money”.
He highlighted the proposed top salary for the chief executive role of £211,765, which he said was significantly higher than for example the chief executive of Portsmouth council, which operates a staffing pool of 4,000 people and looks after huge amount of resources.
Offering a different perspective, Cllr David Neighbour, Liberal Democrat leader of Hart District Council, said:
“You can’t escape that its a job market”.
In North Hampshire, he said, it’s difficult to recruit police officers because they’re competing with people who get an out-of-London allowance in Surrey or they work for the Met for even more.
He warned:
“It will come back and bite us if we get it wrong because we’ll either fail to recruit or we’ll fail the value for money judgement.”
The pay framework was approved with 3 votes in favour and 2 abstentions, from Cllrs Pitt and Madgwick.
