Oxfordshire's council chief 'got more than £200,000'

The chief executive of Oxfordshire County Council, Joanna Simons, received £225,665 in 2009-10, according to a national pressure group.

The Taxpayers' Alliance's 'Town Hall Rich List' is based on councils' statements of accounts.

A council spokesman said her salary was £182,400 and she received a payment of about £6,700 in 2009 for being a returning officer.

He said her employer's pension contribution was about £35,000.

The spokesman added that Ms Simons' pay was less than that of comparable chief executives across the rest of the South East.

The Hutton Review of fair pay in the public sector was published this week.

'Significant saving'

Its author Will Hutton made recommendations for senior public servants' pay to be directly linked to their performance.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "If you run Oxfordshire County Council, which is a big council, a lot of people, a lot of turnover - if that job was in the private sector my expectation would be the salary would be between £300,000 and £500,000 a year."

Emma Boon from the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "We still find there is not enough openness and we still find in most cases that people who are taking home more than £100,000 in pay and perks aren't named - we don't know what jobs they do for the council."

Oxfordshire County Council said it was in the process of reducing the number of senior managers at the county council by 40% with a review of the next tier of management now taking place.

It said this should lead to "a significant seven-figure sum saving."