The chief executives of Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council are set to receive substantial pay increases, collectively amounting to a £42,000 boost. This development positions them among Scotland’s highest-paid local authority leaders following a new national pay framework.
Angela Scott, Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council, will see her annual salary rise by £18,977, moving from £183,084 to £202,081. This represents a 10% increase. Her counterpart in Aberdeenshire, Jim Savege, is to receive an additional £23,475, pushing his salary from £183,104 to £206,579, an increase of nearly 13%.
These significant pay rises stem from an agreement brokered between the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the national body representing Scottish local government, and Alace, the senior management trade union. The revised payment framework for local authority chief executives was implemented after an independent review.
A spokesperson for Cosla explained the rationale behind the increases, stating:
“Council chief executive pay is set nationally through Cosla and rates were revised last year following an independent review. This review reflected the scale, complexity and responsibility of a role which carries significant legal duties and accountability for services that communities rely on every day.”
They further noted that the pay framework had not been reviewed for nearly 25 years, since 2001, and the updated structure aims to ensure salaries are “fair, evidence-based and aligned with the demands of the job, while supporting councils to attract and retain the leadership needed to deliver for local communities.”
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The increases place both north-east chiefs within Scotland’s top ten highest earners among council executives, whose combined salaries are projected to approach £2 million annually. Also benefiting from the new framework is Derek Brown, Chief Executive of Highland Council, whose salary will increase by £15,219, from £191,360 to £206,579, an approximate 8% rise.
The substantial increase for Ms Scott comes two years after a Press & Journal investigation revealed she attended Marischal College, Aberdeen City Council’s main office, for only 53% of the working week. At the time, she was defended by some councillors, with Labour’s M Tauqeer Malik remarking that she was “one of the best in the business”.
The figures are particularly notable given that Scott lives not in Aberdeen but in Dundee — a factor her spokeswoman cited in defence of her remote working patterns, stating that her arrangements were consistent with Scottish Government guidelines “in Aberdeen and her home city of Dundee”.
