Under-fire council chiefs freeze pay

As pressure mounts on public sector spending, the chief executives of all 32 Scottish local authorities will now forego the 2.5 per cent rise in salaries that was due to come into effect in April.

They have joined the political leaders of Scottish councils in waiving a pay rise for the forthcoming year in a move agreed by Cosla and the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives (Alace).

Cosla's human resources spokesman, councillor Michael Cook, said: "The testing times both now and which lie ahead are such that leadership counts and chief executives have shown genuine leadership which we trust will set an example to others."

Tom Aitchison, who earns 158,000 a year as chief executive of Edinburgh City Council and is Alace chairman, added: "(We] recognise the financial situation is very challenging at present and accept that there should be no salary increase in 2010-11."

But the Unison union hit out at the announcement, claiming it was a "cosy" deal that could undermine the pay negotiations of lower paid workers.

Dougie Black, Unison's lead negotiator, said: "It is unfortunate the chief executives did not see fit to raise this first through the negotiating machinery, which delivers their pay.

"Cosy deals with their most senior employees would seem to be more important than delivering for the low-paid workers."