Carmarthen East and Dinefwr AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas has called for greater consistency in local authority pay structures after it emerged that Carmarthenshire has the largest disparity between the salaries of the chief executive and its lowest paid staff.

Following the recent publication of a report into pay of high-ranking employees at local authorities in Wales, Mr Thomas said there was too many discrepancies in the way senior council officers were paid.

According to Mr Thomas, the salary of Carmarthenshire’s current chief executive - thought to earn around £170,000 per year – is more than 12 times the wage of the authority’s lowest paid members of staff.

At a recent Assembly debate, the Plaid Cymru spokesman on Local Government highlighted the disparity between the pay ratios of the highest and lowest paid employees.

Mr Thomas said that following the departure of Pembrokeshire County Council’s chief executive and the subsequent restructuring of the authority last year, Carmarthenshire was now the most unequal authority Wales in terms of the high and low pay gap, followed by Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf.

He also called for the scrapping of fees being paid to council officers to undertake election duties as Returning Officers.

“There are significant variations between local councils whereby authorities of a similar character and profile have vastly different pay scales,” said Mr Thomas.

“Pembrokeshire has had the highest paid chief executive at over £190,000. But the chief executive of neighbouring council, Ceredigion, is paid £108,000. A similar sum is paid to the chief executives of Gwynedd and Conwy councils which outperform Pembrokeshire on several indicators.

“Additionally, there are great variations in the pay ratios within councils with Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire councils paying their chief executives more than twelve times that of the lowest paid employee.

“We want all public bodies to pay the living wage as soon as their finances allow. In some councils, steps have already been taken to increase the pay of the lowest paid workers. Regrettably, though, those who have already introduced a living wage are ones with greater inequalities in relation to their senior officer pay. That’s why we need greater consistency between all authorities and not competition between them.

“Plaid Cymru believes there should be no additional fees should be paid to Council senior officers for undertaking Returning Officer duties at election time. Swansea Council does not pay their chief executive a penny to undertake election duties, and we do not see why others should pocket up to tens of thousands of pounds in addition to their very well paid jobs.