THE salaries of Somerset West and Taunton Council’s top executives were set to be discussed at a virtual council meeting on Tuesday in a pay policy statement intended to give taxpayers an ‘informed view on all aspects of pay and rewards for council employees’.

In the report, Cllr Ross Henley, executive council member for corporate services, will tell councillors that the authority’s highest earner, chief executive James Hassett, is on a salary of £120,526 a year – six times more than the council’s lowest-paid members of staff.

Mr Hassett joined the council in January 2019. As local returning officer he can claim payment during elections and the authority also contributes to his local government pension scheme.

The report adds: “The council is committed to ensuring transparent, fair and equitable pay and reward arrangements that provide value for money and enable the recruitment and retention of employees with skills and motivation to deliver high quality services for the council and its communities.”

Mr Hassett heads a senior leadership team of three directors responsible for external operations and climate change, internal operations and housing who are each paid £102,750 a year.

The council also employs ten assistant directors on salaries of £66,788, with the assistant director of finance being paid a further £5,345 for extra administrative duties.

The maximum salary of a director is 5.1 times that of the council’s lowest-paid employees, who are paid just under £20,000 a year.

Cllr Henley will tell councillors that the salaries relate to the year ending March 2021 and indications are that there will be no further increases in 2021-22.