The 6 highest earners at the Isle of Wight Council – each receiving a salary over £100,000 a year – cost the taxpayer a staggering £856,000 in 2020/21, figures have revealed.
Non-partisan campaigners Taxpayers’ Alliance have pulled together details of the local authority’s highest earners, revealing how much they receive as a salary and what their pension contributions are on top. The organisation has assembled the most comprehensive list of council employees in the UK in receipt of over £100,000 in remuneration in a single financial year for the past 15 years.
The highest-paid staff member at County Hall in the financial year 2020/21 – the height of the COVID pandemic – was former Chief Executive John Metcalfe, who has now left the Island to take up a similar position in Cumbria. Mr Metcalfe was receiving a salary of £135,998 with pension contributions of £31,959 on top – meaning he cost the taxpayer a whopping £167,957 in just 12 months.
Second on the Isle of Wight Council rich list is Carol Tozer, the former Director of Adult Social Services. At the time she was being paid £123,931 with pension contributions of £29,124. Dr Tozer has since left the local authority.
The salaries of Mr Metcalfe and Dr Tozer combined (£259,929) equates to employing around 10 people (based on the average mean wage across the Isle of Wight Council), or 14 people on the lowest wage.
Isle of Wight Council Rich List – 2020/21
| Name | Job title | Salary | Pension | Total |
| John Metcalfe | Chief executive | £135,998 | £31,959 | £167,957 |
| Dr Carol Tozer | Director of adult social service | £123,931 | £29,124 | £153,055 |
| Chris Ashman | Director of regeneration | £113,931 | £26,774 | £140,705 |
| Wendy Perera | Assistant chief executive & chief strategy officer | £109,607 | £25,758 | £135,365 |
| Colin Rowland | Director of neighbourhoods | £105,850 | £24,875 | £130,725 |
| Claire Shand | Director of corporate services | £103,979 | £24,435 | £129,757 |
The total salaries of the 6 officers mentioned above totals £693,296 with an additional £162,925 in pension contributions – a total cost to the public purse of £856,221. Claire Shand, Director of Corporate Services, received an additional £1,343 for ‘other’, taking the overall total to £857,564.
The explanation is in the report, “The highest-paid staff member at County Hall in the financial year 2020/21 – the height of the COVID pandemic – was former Chief Executive John Metcalfe, who has now left the Island to take up a similar position in Cumbria”
i doubt he has taken up a position for less salary so it must be the going rate. Not excusing it, just reflecting how many would go for a job and say I’m not happy with the salary, pay me less.
A shocking disgrace. Our little Island that is struggling so much, just to pay the fat cats. Nothing to show for it.
Obscene
then up goes your council tax to pay for it all
Is there any wonder that us mere cash cow’s are sick to the back teeth of the Council and all the Council Tax hikes?????
That is a totally obscene ….ridiculous wage ( they are already ridiculously high ) ….
Their cutting services carrying on with the non floating piece DUNG !!!! Whilst lining their wallets with our money ….
People are struggling to eat and heat , and this load parasites whack up the Council Tax (for what??) Oh yes the pension pot ,no bread and gruel for them only the finest caviar ….
You really take the biscuit or is that the RITZ cracker ??????
Oh no, far too common. A Water Biscuit of course!
At least a water biscuit may float!!!!! Lol …. unlike the useless heap they have lumbered us with!!!
So probably right then …
But only the blue box variety ….
Cheaper types are available !!!!!!
Miss Sensible, has Boaty McBoat-Face sunk yet? I see that the £3Million flagship recently drove into something after having its five-year inspection.
Rewards for total failure. How much for someone who actually do something?
And everyone else is struggling you can see why they have put everything up because they can afford it.
maybe a new goverment will shake up things
Nice if you can get it ,obviously paid for the name of the title and not the ability of the person
There are healthcare workers slogging their guts out for the salary equivalent of the pension contributions that the council pay to these people.
Doubt they will be doing a L’Oreal advert soon.
Don’t even earn half the pension pot of Mr metcalfe
its time we took action look at this floating disarster just spent out on a 5 years maritime test and now again out of action who the h l is paying for this .
That is a disgusting amount of wages and probably spent most of that time working from home and others are scraping by on minimum wages
so – about 600 or so Band A council tax payers money simply goes into the pockets of six people at the council.
leeches, sponging of those least able to pay, who are in the lowest council tax band. These leeches are trousering salaries that those having the money taken from them against their will, can only dream of.
Reassuring that my hard earned is keeping them in the opulence to which they are accustomed.
When my heating is switched off through financial constraints I was relieved to see county hall had no such problem, billowing clouds of steam from their boiler this morning. Arrogant pigs.
I’m a support worker for the iow council and I don’t even earn half of Mr metcalfe pension pot a year, makes me sick
Regeneration ? director of Neighbourhoods ? have they had a look round Sandown Lately
beggars belief
Look at the mess adult social care is in, families and carer’s struggling to eat or heat their homes ,stuck in hospital – yet those that have created the problem try to justify close to the wage of The Priminister !. IWC could save a few million if remove top level of managers that serve no purpose or benefit the public. As they say money go to money, expect they have electric cars and been given a grant ( from tax I pay) to have a charging point on their own private driveway etc.
these people should be paid minimum wage and then topped up by results
see how many of them want to stay in the job they are public servants after all
the same should apply in the houses of parliament
if I don,t get a result on a job I don,t get paid
Exactly , shame on all of them when others can’t afford to pay for heating ,disgrace
i agree entirly their wages should now be scrutinised and investigated cant wait for the legal result of this Wight elephant
I can’t say what i and probably 1000s more islanders want to say as IE will delete the comments but im sure you all know what should be said
All this has happened in the past and will go on in to the future and in years to come when they die people will say didn’t they do a wonderful job for the island only some of us will know how they riped of the island and the damage they did
Remember they have to pay this much to get the best people…. dread to think what the worst would be like.
The best people to do exactly WHAT ? Never see sits vacant for these jobs. I demand to know what any of these parasites have done for the island and its residents. Can anybody enlighten me ?
Mmm I think you’ll find this is average or below average for these sort of jobs.
not exactly a status post is it, with our reputation!
These people don’t have to choose between ‘eating or heating’ do they.
They can continue in their everyday life not having to worry about money and paying all the bills.
Jobs for the boys, incompetence reigns supreme. I bet the pavements are weeded where these people live too.
Also look how many members of the council are earning over £50000.
If the top ten earners were sacked would it affect any of our lives NO!!
With their pensions would be literally saving millions.
You can also see why approx 17% of our council tax goes to pay council staff payments.
Scandalous – no wonder the council finances have been in such a mess.
What could they have possibly done to warrant being paid that much – sod all apparently !!
Are they for real most island jobs are minimum wage or just above so can just get by yet a council which isn’t fit for purpose are paying some staff in excess of 100000 joke and insulting to the people who struggle
Have Isle of Wight residents on low income been given a £50 shopping voucher? Some Councils across the UK have awarded residents a shopping voucher following the price hike in fuel. However, not every resident in the UK on low income will receive a voucher as the decision is based locally by the local council.
I wonder if the Isle of Wight Council has issued such a voucher to those in desperate need?
Probably have !!!! To those that work in the council earning less than £50-000 !!!!!!
After the ombudsman report on the planning debacle at niton the chief executive had to go but to pay that sort of salarly for incompetent’s is a disgrace
Ivory tower syndrome or glass ceilings spring to mind. However if you can talk the talk then that’s all it takes to reach the top apparently. Who set’s the wages of these upper few? They’d have be competitive to attract to the island given the huge, rip off cost of living here. Compared equivalent roles across all authorities they think our little island would be easy, then wham, they see the mess its in, have no guilt in claiming over inflated salaries, load up and skiddaddle. Plz list what they do to ‘earn’ this wage as we common folk never get to find out and yes, payment by results should underpin payment
You think this is bad. Get a list of all those staff at this useless council on more than £50,000.000 a year!!!. You’ll need to sit down first. Useless, ALL of them. Totally useless. All sat around in an echo chamber of back-slapping, safe in the knowledge that they don’t need to work because no senior council worker ever got sacked and if you complain it’s to the person they sit and have their lunch with on the next desk. And a good few of them sit at home doing NOTHING on full pay. Those who go in manage it about once a week anyway. A total scam!
Does anyone, literally anyone, know what these six people do in their extremely well paid roles?
What does a Director of Neighbourhoods actually do?
Has the Director of Regeneration actually done ANYTHING to bring regeneration to places like Sandown, because it certainly doesn’t look like it?
And, what on earth is a Director of Corporate Services? Is it actually a job that benefits anyone here on the Island?
How about the Council lists, in plain English, what these people do each day?
It’s bad enough their salary but what niffs me is the amount of pension given for one year
The council moan they have to make cuts they take from the lower paid people such the lollipop people a few years ago why don’t the fat cats cut there wages