Daily Archives: February 16, 2011

Eric Pickles retracts his claim about rise in council executives’ pay

February 16, 2011 10:24 pm by Jim Pickard

Eric Pickles told Today programme listeners this morning that pay for council chief execs had risen by 75 per cent over just five years, as we reported on ft.com today.

It turns out that this is not the case, as the Guardian explains here. The confusion comes down to an Audit Commission report which said that FTSE 250 company chief execs enjoyed a 78 per cent pay rise between 2002 and 2007. This was more than double the 34 per cent rise for council bosses from 2002 to 2008. Somehow the two figures were mixed up by the communities secretary. Read more

Posted in UK politics | Permalink

How much money will Pickles pay policy save in reality?

February 16, 2011 11:40 am by Jim Pickard

Eric Pickles was careful on the Today programme when explaining his plan to let councillors veto any salary of over £100,000 for their chief executives.

The communities secretary explained that this would set a good example from the top within local authorities. Read more

Posted in UK politics | Permalink

The IDS rule that punishes savers

February 16, 2011 11:08 am by Alex Barker

A new means test. A savers penalty. A hit in income for 600,000 prudent households. Is this really Tory policy?

Buried in the welfare reform bill, published tomorrow, is a new rule that will achieve just that. You have to wonder whether it will survive in its current form.

Iain Duncan Smith’s ambitious plan to create a new Universal Credit will extend a savings means test — applied to those on out of work benefits — to working families that would currently be eligible for tax credits.

This will mean any working family with savings of more than £16,000 will have no entitlement to universal credit, once the system is in place.

That affects around 400,000 working households, taking in some cases more than £100 a week from their wallets. Read more