Cash-strapped council offers six-figure salaries

Cornwall Council has faced continual financial challenges

A local authority that is hundreds of millions of pounds in debt has advertised two six-figure salary roles.

Cornwall Council, which has written to the government asking for more financial help, is looking for a new chief operating officer (COO) and monitoring officer.

The COO job is being advertised for up to £165,000, while the Monitoring Officer role, to lead the council’s legal services team, is offering £119,000 a year.

A spokesperson for the council said the salaries being offered are competitive, and added Cornwall Council has a "lean" management team, compared to other authorities of a similar size.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Cornwall Council was more than £700m in debt, in figures released by the BBC Shared Data Unit.

The council has faced continual financial challenges, including an overspend of £5.1m in children and family services and £5m in school transport services.

Housing is also expected to go over budget this year by up to £11m.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council defended the salaries being offered.

“When setting the salaries for its senior staff, the council takes proper account of relevant labour market information and, in particular, the salaries for local government roles of a similar scope, scale and complexity," the Local Democracy Reporting Service was told.

“We are very aware of the financial challenges facing the council and continually strive to provide the best possible value for our taxpayers, and when benchmarked against local authorities of a similar size we are comparatively lean on management.”

The current COO, Tracie Langley, who joined the council four years ago is retiring.

It is understood the council’s current Monitoring Officer Henry Gordon-Lennox, is leaving to take up another legal position elsewhere.