Tax Payers' Alliance fury at 'enormous' pay hike for Centro boss
Oct 14 2009 by Patrice John, Birmingham Post
The West Midlands transport authority has come under fierce criticism for awarding its chief executive a £24,000-a-year pay rise.
Centro has increased Geoff Inskip’s salary from £131,000 to £155,000 as a reward for his work, although Centro stresses that £10,000 of the rise covers additional duties as clerk to the authority.
The pay award came after an independent review of his terms and conditions was commissioned by Centro.
Mr Inskip joined Centro in October 2006 and his pay rose to £147,500 last month (an increase of £16,500), with a planned increase of £7,500 next September, bringing his pay to £155,000.
The controversial move has sparked anger from the Tax Payers’ Alliance who said it was “more than some people earn in an entire year”.
West Midlands spokeswoman Fiona McEvoy said: “Centro have tried to avoid negative backlash by staggering this enormous pay increase, but the fact is we are in a recession and this rise amounts to more than many people earn in a year.
“Worse still, as head of a quango like Centro, Geoff Inskip is completely unelected and therefore unaccountable to the very taxpayers who provide this bumper salary.
“Public bodies should be less concerned about whether their bosses are earning the maximum possible wage and more concerned about delivering value for money. If there’s a need to bring salaries ‘into line’ with other agencies then surely at the moment that should mean cuts or freezes rather than rises given the public debt?”
Organisers of a passenger campaign groups were also angered.
Kevin Chapman from the West Midlands Campaign for Better Transport said: “I can understand Centro wanting to get the best people to do the job, but this is a lot of money.
“Passengers are enduring hard times and pay freezes at work and we know there will be annual public transport fare rises so to award this pay increase at this moment seems strange.
“People must know what will be delivered, we have to see improvements and projects that have been promised over the years need to be delivered.”
The pay award comes as the government tries to rein in finances.
Last week the chancellor Alistair Darling announced a freeze on public sector pay for 2010/2011 but Mr Inskip’s pay rise was awarded prior to this and so he will not be impacted.
Tax Payers’ Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott said: “This pay rise is obscene, and there’s no way Mr Inskip should be awarded a massive increase at a time when people in the rest of the country are losing their jobs.
“Mr Inskip will not fall victim to either Osborne or Darling’s pay freeze.”
A Centro spokesman said: “The independent and external assessor has advised the chief executive’s salary needs to be increased to bring it in line with the industry standard and Centro has accepted this recommendation.
“However, with the current economic climate putting pressure on budgets, both in the public and private sectors, Centro agreed to pay part of the increase now and the rest in September 2010.”
