£1 gift is reward for county hall staff

Feb 9 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

BOSSES at a council whose three top officers have been awarded bumper pay rises have left staff with another nasty taste in their mouths – by giving them the gift of a drinks mug.

The storm in a teacup has blown up at Northumberland County Council, where the mugs have been handed out to 6,000 employees as a thank you for their role in helping the authority achieve a coveted four-star rating from the Audit Commission this week.

Stamped with the word Superstars and four gold stars, the mugs were accompanied by a letter of congratulations from senior managers in an exercise said to have cost the council about £6,780. The gesture has been greeted with a mixture of anger and hilarity at County Hall in Morpeth – in the wake of the furore over 22% ‘golden handcuff’ pay hikes given to retain the services of chief executive Mark Henderson, his deputy Jill Dixon and finance director Steven Mason.

Some employees are incensed that taxpayers’ money has been spent on the gifts at a time when the council is making £4.7m in budget cuts, while others are bemused at being given a drinking mug when £70,000 has been earmarked for the controversial retention payments to the three executives.

Yesterday Graham Wilkins, Unison’s retired members’ secretary for the Northumberland branch, said: “We have been inundated with emails from staff who think it is absolutely disgusting that the council is spending money on giving people a mug, especially when the gang of three have been awarded 20% pay rises. There are boxes of these mugs ready to be returned because people don’t want them. A letter of congratulations would have been enough to recognise the four-star rating, but getting mugs is a joke. As a local council tax -payer myself, I am livid about the whole thing.”

One County Hall employee – who asked not to be named – said: “The county council has done well to achieve this excellent rating but staff have not asked for anything like this to be done. We would prefer the money to be spent on improving employees’ pay, or invested in front line services for the elderly, than on mugs. We could all have lived without another cheap mug and the whole thing has become something of a laughing stock.”

The county council said the mugs cost £1.13 each and were given to 6,000 employees in recognition of their hard work and dedication in helping to achieve the four-star rating, ranking it as one of the best authorities in the UK.

Chief executive Mark Henderson said the council was also funding a charity donation of £5,000 to mark the occasion. “We are inviting staff to help choose one of four local charitable projects to receive the donation. It is not unusual for local authorities to show their appreciation of their staff. We chose a small, value-for-money gift that staff can use and keep, as we felt it was important to show all of our staff that we value their contribution and we wanted to thank them personally.”

Schools staff have not been given the mugs but each school will be allocated money to spend as they wish to benefit staff and pupils.