THE number of staff earning more than £50,000 has rocketed at councils across Essex, a new report has revealed.

Essex County Council - which employs 586 people on salaries above £50,000 - is the fourth biggest spender in the country, shelling out just over £36million on big earners.

Ten years ago, the county council employed just 37 people in the high wage bracket.

The numbers have also soared at Southend Council, rising almost tenfold from 14 employees in 1997 to 123 last year, at a cost of just over £8million.

The figures are revealed in a report by the Taxpayers' Alliance pressure group, which has examined the pay of middle and senior managers at local authorities nationwide.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "With council tax doubling in the past decade, it's extremely disappointing town halls have chosen to hire a new class of middle managers, many of whom are being paid more than MPs.

"Local authorities should study these findings carefully to see where savings can be made, instead of using their half billion-pound PR machine to obscure their finances from taxpayers."

At Basildon and Thurrock councils - neither of which had figures available in 1997 - high-earning staff have still increased significantly, from five in 2001 to 31 last year (Basildon), and from 29 in 2001 to 98 last year (Thurrock).

The increases at the much smaller Rochford and Castle Point councils were more modest.

Southend Council leader Nigel Holdcroft defended the number of staff on high salaries, saying the council's recent restructure had led to an increase in £50,000-plus earners.

He said: "As a council we are always seeking to get the best possible calibre of staff, which means we have to pay the right salaries to compete in the marketplace.

"I can appreciate people may think salaries are too high, but if you do not pay them then the right sort of people will not be attracted to work for Southend Council."

Essex County Council leader Lord Hanningfield said staff earning more than £50,000 made up about 0.01 per cent of its 52,000 employees.

He said: "In the past few years, we have made a huge amount of savings, and we are determined to carry on with this success and make a further £200million in the next three years, while continuing to provide good quality services.

"We are able to achieve this due to the high calibre of our senior staff who, in part, are attracted to the authority due to its competitive remuneration.

"We are one of the largest councils in England and we pride ourselves on delivering good quality services and value for money to the 1.6 million residents in the county."

Southend: Labour's attack

OPPOSITION councillors in Southend have criticised the number of high-earning staff the authority employs.

David Norman, Labour group finance spokesman on Southend Council, said: "I would like to look very closely at the figures, as we have already been losing staff in recent years in vital areas.

"There is a real danger the council could end up with a situation where we have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. I also have worries because I understand a number of key staff in certain areas will be leaving the council soon."

Graham Longley, who was the leader of the joint Labour and Liberal Democrat administration in power in 1997, was more cautious.

He said: "The salaries which local councils have to pay staff reflect the situation of supply and demand.

"The important thing is to ensure they are delivering the standard of service which people expect. There are always concerns if people are not doing their job properly."

Rochford: Total cost more than £1/2m

ROCHFORD District Council has eight senior members of staff who earn more than £50,000 a year, costing a total of £520,000.

This compares with two in 1997 and three in 2002, but the increase is still well below the average.

Keith Hudson, deputy leader of the council, said: "As a council, we tend to be extremely frugal and employ a lot fewer staff than most local authorities of a comparative size. As we only have a small hierarchy of staff and not a massive pyramid, then we are able to keep the costs down.

"Many of our staff are also multi-tasked and are able to carry out a number of different jobs."

  • In Castle Point, the council has increased its high earners from two in 1997 to seven in 2007.

Its chief executive David Mar-chant said he believed the authority had been able to transform itself from "poor" to "good" council after a recent Audit Commission inspection, thanks to having the right managers.

Mr Marchant said: "We are all in the same local Government marketplace and have to remunerate our officers in order to attract the right people and to keep them.

"We don't have excess staff. We are a pretty lean organisation. We have no plans to increase our staff because we feel we have already got the right team in place.

"We do need to ensure that now we have the right people in place that they don't leave us."

Basildon: Salaries defended

BASILDON Council leader Malcolm Buckley believes the high number of council employees on £50,000 salaries is justified.

Mr Buckley said the wages matched the level of work and responsibility performed by the relevant council staff.

He said: "Public sector employees should be well paid to deliver the best possible services for people. Some people within the council manage budgets that run into millions and they have a serious degree of responsibility."

Basildon Council employed 31 members of staff on a salary of £50,000 or more in 2007 - a sixfold rise on the five staff on the same salary in 2001.

Mr Buckley said changes in local government had led to dramatic increase in higher salaries.

He said: "A number of additional services have been devolved to local councils and we need people to deliver these services."

Mr Buckley also criticised the report by the Taxpayers' Alliance, calling it an "ill-researched piece of work".

He added: "If they looked more closely at Basildon Council, they would find we have driven down costs."