Spokesperson Richard Ryan said “We know that Peter Grimwood is an excellent CEO and is really committed to Fareham but his above inflation pay rise comes at a very inappropriate time. We are told by a Conservative led government that times are hard and we all need to make sacrifices. Conservative run Fareham tells us the same and needs to save £800,000. But here they are giving the chief officer a guaranteed inflation busting pay rise of around 3% a year for the next five years. A pay rise from £107,500 to £125,000.
Other Fareham Council staff of course are facing much lower and below inflation pay rises. Plus they have the prospect of more redundancies in the near future due to the Tories need to save more money. A good example of the Tories’ ‘rule for one but not the other’ is the recent advert for an apprentice where they are only giving the very bare minimum pay.
An independent review recommended the pay rise and of course there has to be a ‘rate for the job’ but this means to us that everyone has the proper rate not just one person. As we’re in straightened times we would have thought that the council would have more sense than to give such a large pay rise at a time when both staff and residents of Fareham are finding making ends meet very difficult.”