A TOP Colchester Council officer was paid nearly £80,000 when he was made redundant.

Mike Crouch, executive director, got the pay-off when he lost his £91,000-a-year job last year, as part of a council restructure.

The figure has been released by the Taxpayers’ Alliance, which requested details of every council officer in the country who earns over £100,000 a year.

Mr Crouch was included because his £77,549 redundancy pay out combined with his salary was more than £100,000.

Chief executive Adrian Pritchard was also on the list.

His salary is £112,306 and he also received money as returning officer at elections, which bumped up his total take home pay to £118,339.

Emma Boon, campaign manager at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said Mr Crouch’s pay-off was not unusual in town halls across the country.

She said: “It’s wrong for senior council staff like Mike Crouch, who already earn a fortune, to be handed such huge pay-offs.

His termination payment came straight out of the pockets of ordinary taxpayers, most of whom could never dream of being handed this kind of lump sum.

“This trend in local government has serious connotations for the next few months when it is clearly going to be necessary to lay off a lot of senior public sector managers.”

Mike Thurston, the council’s human resources service centre manager, said the abolition of Mr Crouch’s post would save taxpayers money in the long-term.

He said: “Colchester Council made the decision to discontinue with an executive director post, taking the number of executive directors down from four to three.

“An executive director was subsequently made redundant and was paid in accordance with the council’s redundancy scheme, which applies to every council employee.

“In the long term this will save taxpayers’ money.”

£200k to departing executives

Tendring Council’s three highest-earning officers are to walk away with a £200,000 payment.

The pay-off to chief executive John Hawkins, deputy chief executive Roy Coulter and assistant chief executive Roger Stewart has been agreed in a behind-closed-doors session of the council.

A confidential report seen by the Gazette last year said the move was part of a cost-cutting cull of senior staff, which could save the council £96,161 a year.

Now is has been rubber-stamped, although the details have still not been officially released.

Neil Stock, council leader, said the pay-offs are part of a report.

He said: “The report is all about succession planning.

“When you have three senior officers nearing retirement age, you need to manage their exit. That is why this report was drawn up.”

According to the leaked document, the trio will be given a total of £194,379 in early release costs.

Mr Hawkins, who earns more than £120,000 a year according to 2008/09 figures, is expected to pick up a settlement of £73,201.

Mr Coulter and Mr Stewart, who earn more than £100,000 each, would pick up £62,201 and £58,687 respectively.

They could be replaced by a new chief executive and three new executive directors on a new salary grade, saving up to £100,000 a year.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s right the council are looking at cost-cutting, but handing out £200,000 in pay-offs is an expensive way to do it.

“The Audit Commission has found many local government executives pocket these massive golden goodbyes and then walk straight into new council jobs.

“These staff have earned a lot from taxpayers already without handing them a small fortune to leave.”

Tendring Council said it was unable to comment on the pay-offs because the report was confidential.

TENDRING Council refused to reveal the pay packets of its top earners following a Freedom of Information request.

The authority answered the Taxpayers’ Alliance question last year, but refused this time.

The council said releasing the information would breach data protection rules.

It is among a handful of councils that refused to provide the names of council bosses earning more than £100,000.

Emma Boon, Taxpayers’ Alliance campaign manager, said: “Plenty of councils across the country have answered this, so there doesn’t seem to be a genuine case for data protection or any excuse for not answering our requests.

“We have appealed against all those that have refused, so we have done all we can to get them to reveal who is being paid more than £100,000 because we think taxpayers deserve to know.”

Nigel Brown, Tendring Council spokesman, said the authority was in the process of dealing with the Taxpayers’ Alliance Freedom of Information request.

ESSEX County Council’s chief executive Joanna Killian is the highest paid in the country – and one of 31 senior council officials paid more than Gordon Brown.

The Prime Minister earns £194,000 compared with Ms Killian’s salary, which is between £260,000 and £270,000.

The council, the third biggest administrative area in the country after the Greater London Authority and Kent, pays another 18 senior staff salaries in excess of £100,000, with the second highest paid director for social care on £165,000.

An extra 13 staff were paid top salaries in 2008/09 compared to the previous year.

The council refused to explain why its top officers deserved such high salaries, but hit out at the Taxpayers’ Alliance which published the figures.

Nicola Spicer, Essex Councy Council spokeswoman, said: “We are committed to delivering high quality services that are value for money.

“This report from the Taxpayers’ Alliance is an attempt at annual publicity for them without addressing the real issues facing local government and the actions being taken.”

THE chief executive of Braintree Council earns £119,000-a-year, it has been revealed.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance’s claim Allan Reid earnt £125,000 in 2007/08 and 2008/09 is incorrect, according to leader Graham Butland. He said: “His annual salary for 2008/09 was £119,000.

“This salary is also frozen for the period 2009/10.

“In its aims to be open and accountable, Braintree Council was ahead of the game in publishing the salaries of its chief executive and directors for 2008/09.”

The Taxpayers’ Alliance report shows at least 1,250 council staff across the country got £100,000 or more in 2008/09. This is up from 1,099 in 2007/08.

There were 166 officers earning more than £150,000 in 2008/09, up from 135 in 2007/08.