10 January 2013  A “TEMPORARY” council worker is raking in £779 – earning more than both his own chief executive, and Prime Minister David Cameron.
Mike Boyle has been interim head of adult commissioning at Southend Council, Essex, since June 2010.
He remains in post today despite the cash-strapped council claiming it only recruits temporary staff as a stop-gap for vacancies or during periods of reorganisation.
And despite being a temp, Mr Boyle takes away more than the council’s chief executive and the Prime Minister.
In 2011/12, Mr Boyle would have been paid a staggering £187,154.40 based on his daily rate for 48 weeks - significantly more than council chief executive Rob Tinlin, who was on a basic salary of £148,881, and David Cameron, who is on £145,500.
Mr Boyle, who works five days a week, was even on a higher rate than his current £779-a-day when he worked for the authority briefly in 2007, before he was drafted back three years later.
Council leader Nigel Holdcroft said Mr Boyle was in post because the authority had been unable to find a permanent head of adult commissioning since 2010.
Mr Tinlin said: “When the post became vacant again 2010, we were unable to recruit to this position so Mike returned to fill the post in the interim, from June 2010 at a reduced rate of pay.
“Over the period Mike has been acting for the council, this and other posts have been filled on temporary arrangements to facilitate service reviews and a review of the senior management structure.”
Southend Council would not say what Mr Boyle’s original daily rate was before it was scaled back, but a slice of it will be paid to recruitment agency Capita, who provided My Boyle.
Opposition leaders have called on the council to make better use of its money particularly as its budget is set to be slashed by the Government later this year while unions say 90 jobs are at risk.
Martin Terry, leader of the opposition independent party, said: “We are looking at more cuts this year and when you set that against the backdrop of these huge salaries it makes me angry and I’m sure will make Echo readers angry.
“The council should be looking at training and using some of their existing staff to temporary fill in rather than bringing in staff at a ridiculous cost to the taxpayer.”
Graham Longley, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in Southend, said: “Interim staff is quite acceptable providing they are temporary and once they go beyond what is a reasonable timeframe for a temporary member of staff, they should not be in post.
“I’m surprised no-one has picked up on the fact that Mr Boyle has been in his role so long in terms of his temporary contract.”
Interim members of staff are not entitled to pensions or holiday and sick pay, and Southend Council claims that it has reduced its numbers of temporary staff over the past few years.
Mr Boyle declined to comment when approached by the Echo through the council’s press office.