Council’s sport tsar gets 40% pay rise
... but officials pass it off as a wage ‘restructure’!
UNION chiefs voiced fury last night after claiming the head of a council-funded sports charity is to get a pay rise of more than 40 per cent – taking his salary to £85,000.
Andrew Bain is chief officer of Active Stirling, an arm’s length external organisation (ALEO) which receives a yearly management fee from Stirling Council plus other grants, mostly from the Sportscotland quango.
Public services union Unison said it had seen documents showing Mr Bain’s pay is being hiked from £60,000 to £85,000 – while staff have suffered cuts to their terms and conditions and take-home pay.
Active Stirling claimed Unison’s information was ‘misleading’ but admitted there
‘Biggest percentage I have ever seen’
had been a change to pay grades, ‘implemented to align our business structure with the changing landscape of sport and physical activity’.
Last night, Scottish Tory local government spokesman Alexander Stewart said: ‘This is a very large pay increase which many will think is unjustifiable given the pay and conditions of others in the organisation. Active Stirling should think very carefully about the message this sends to its employees and others.
‘The lack of information from Active Stirling is also very concerning. Given its public funding, these details should be public knowledge.’
Lorraine Thomson, Unison branch secretary, said: ‘Active Stirling owes it to its staff and the people of Stirling to provide an explanation.’
David O’Connor, Unison regional organiser, said: ‘We are very concerned with what is being proposed here.
‘The pay and grading review brings with it an increase in pay for many but also an inherent unfairness with those at the top receiving what I can only describe as the biggest percentage pay rise I have ever seen, while those at the bottom end are awarded the living wage (£8.75 an hour).’
Mr O’Connor added: ‘We are also concerned that financially this has been a struggling organisation for many years, partly funded by public monies through its contract to provide a service to Stirling Council, and has seen the local authority take measures to secure its continued existence, so to see chief officers award themselves such pay rises is alarming to say the least.’ Stirling Council is run by an SNP/Labour coalition.
Neil Benny, leader of the Conservatives group at the council, said ‘questions need to be answered’ and claimed the proposed pay rise was ‘shameful’.
Active Stirling said Unison’s claims were wrong and ‘misleading’ – but Jane Neal, the organisation’s director of engagement, repeatedly refused to be drawn on Mr Bain’s salary details.
An Active Stirling spokesman said: ‘The new structure was implemented to align our business structure with the changing landscape of sport and physical activity delivery in Stirling.
‘At Unison’s request, Active Stirling provided a previous salary structure, along with the new salary structure.
‘From this, Unison appears to have made inaccurate comparisons and drawn inaccurate conclusions.
‘Conditions of employment remain unchanged for all employees, with no cuts to take home pay and Active Stirling has introduced the Stirling living wage which is above the living wage foundation rate.’