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Liberal Democrat plans to force senior council officers to re-apply for their jobs have been dismissed as ‘party conference posturing at its worst'. Vince Cable at the Lib Dem conference The annual party conference season, often used as a stick with which to beat local government, began in earnest this week when the Liberal Democrat conference convened in Bournemouth. Vince Cable, the party's Treasury spokesman, told delegates that as part of a new tax-cutting pledge, he would force all ‘non-frontline' public servants earning over £100,000 annually to re-apply for their jobs. It was also time to stop the ‘gravy train' of management consultancy across the public services, he added. ‘We need to challenge in a fundamental way many of the things which the government spends its money on,' Mr Cable said. ‘The coward's way is to sack or squeeze the pay of low-paid public sector workers. The correct way is to start at the top: require every non-frontline public sector employee on £100,000 or more to re-apply for their jobs. Those allowed back would take a cut in pay and public sector pension entitlement.' Asked to elaborate on the policy, a Lib Dem spokesman told LocalGov: ‘It's not a clarion call to slash jobs across sectors such as local government and the civil service. It would be more of a value for money exercise to ensure that people on high public sector salaries provide genuine value to their organisations.' But SOLACE, which represents council chief executives, dismissed Mr Cable's plan as unworkable and, possibly, in breach of employment law. A spokesman said: ‘This is just a bizarre idea. It demonstrates a lack of understanding by [national] politicians of the effect such a wild policy would have on public services across the UK. ‘Who is next? University personnel? Head teachers? The police? This is party conference posturing at its worst.' A former chief executive at a Liberal Democrat-controlled council said: ‘It's an odd policy choice. It would discourage senior personnel from working in local government, de-motivate them and I'm not even certain that it is compliant with current employment laws. ‘Wage cuts and changes to remuneration would undo a lot of hard work across local government in recent years. We've managed to attract skilled personnel to the sector despite high equivalent salaries in the private sphere – this proposal could undermine that.' According to a report from the Taxpayers Alliance published earlier this year, at least 815 town hall chief executives and officers now earn over £100,000 annually – although the final figure is likely to be over 1,000 personnel. Chief executives of unitary councils, large districts, London boroughs and many large service portfolio holders would be forced to re-apply for their roles under Mr Cable's plan. Yet the Lib Dem spokesman admitted there was ‘no guarantee' that salary changes or job cuts would follow.

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WHITEHALL

Lib Dem targeting of £100k chiefs could be unlawful

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