Anger over massive pensions gulf between local authority bosses and ordinary workers

At least seven London local government bosses are heading for final salary pensions of more than £100,000 a year, the Evening Standard has learned.

They are the first of a new generation of high-earning council chiefs, now in their fifties, who can look forward to six-figure retirement incomes once their careers are over.

The size of the pensions has angered union leaders, who have drawn attention to the vast gap between the "fat cat" bosses at the top of the local authority earnings league and the average London council worker pension of around £4,000.

And three of those due for a windfall have been criticised for serious failings in their social services department after children died.

The Evening Standard has had to use pension experts to estimate the likely retirements benefits of London council bosses as local authorities - unlike major quoted companies - are not yet obliged to disclose the figures in their accounts. The biggest pension pot has been accumulated by Kensington & Chelsea chief executive Derek Myers, 54, who has worked in local government all his career.

At 65 he will be entitled to an annual pension of about £135,000 and a lump sum of about £267,000. A pension income of this size would need to be funded from a pot of around £2.7million.

Second comes Lambeth's boss Derrick Anderson, another career local government worker, who will be entitled to draw more than £125,000 from his council's pension fund when he reaches 65.

The fund will need to put aside about £2.5million to fund a retirement income of that size. Campaigners against wasteful government spending said they were shocked by the size of the pensions.

Susie Squire, campaign manager for the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "This is an absolutely staggering amount of money and illustrates the apartheid between the public and private sector.

"What makes it all the worse is that many ordinary Londoners are facing redundancies and seeing their own pensions reduced beyond belief - if they can afford them at all. And all the time they're struggling to put food on the table while paying for these council fat cats to retire into the lap of luxury." Under the old local government pension arrangements, retirement benefits accumulated at the rate of 1/80 of pay for every year served. On top of that a council worker got a tax-free lump sum equivalent to three times the pension.

But this was changed last April to bring local authority schemes more in line with the surviving private sector final salary schemes. Every year is now calculated at 1/60th of the final salary multiplied by the number of years. A tax-free lump sum of up to 25 per cent of the pot is allowed but this will reduce the level of annual pension.

The Government has said it wants to give local taxpayers the right to find out how much their council bosses are being paid and will get as pension.

John Healey, minister for local government, said: "I want the public to have the full picture about what their council chiefs earn in pay, perks and pensions. That is why I have decided to legislate to make that information public. This will help stop the spiral of pay and pay-offs and make councils think much harder about top pay decisions and their impact on frontline staff pensions."

The main local government union, the GMB, has also said it is worried that top earners will soak up so much of the money in their pension funds that they will jeopardise payments to the low-paid. The union has asked the Government to require local government workers on six-figure salaries to raise their contributions from six per cent to 10 per cent of salary.

But councils said the pensions were justified. A spokeswoman for Camden council, where chief executive Moira Gibb is set to retire on a pension of more than £109,000, said: "All local government pension holders pay a proportion of their own wage into these pension schemes and for some people these reflect years of service.

"Councils provide more than 800 different services for local residents and chief executives do a hugely important job, leading highly complex organisations with billion-pound turnovers, for a lot less than their private sector counterparts."

A spokesman for Brent council said: "It is the local government pension scheme which sets the rules for officers in local councils regardless of their seniority. Brent council and its officers in the scheme follow those rules."

Moira Gibb
Chief executive of Camden
Age: not disclosed
Salary: £210,000
Estimate local government career at retirement: 40 years
Annual pension: £109,375 (£2,187,500 pot)
Lump sum: £267,750

Moira Gibb qualified as a social worker after a short teaching career. She has worked in social services departments in Newcastle, Surrey, Ealing and Kensington and Chelsea.
Since being appointed as Chief Executive of Camden, four serious case reviews have been carried out into the death or serious injury of a child as a result of abuse or neglect. One, a six-year-old girl, was murdered in 2005 by her mother's boyfriend, despite being on the child protection register. Ms Gibb announced a restructuring of children's services "to improve the welfare of all children". The next year a two-month-old boy died after "horrific" abuse.

Gareth Daniel
Chief executive of Brent
Age: 54
Salary: £180,000
Local government career at retirement: 43 years
Annual pension: £105,750 (£2,115,000)
Lump sum: £209,250

A graduate of Jesus College, Oxford, he began as a social worker in Ealing council in 1976. Worked for four years as a planning and policy manager in Brent's social services department from 1986. Chairman of Ealing council's planning and economic development committee from 1986-90. He was head of Brent's corporate policy, planning and projects team from January 1990 and became chief executive in September 1998.

Derrick Anderson
Chief executive, Lambeth
Age: 52
Salary: £220,000
Estimated local government career at retirement: 41 years
Annual pension: £125,583 (£2,511, 660)
Lump sum: £222,750

Formerly from the West Midlands, Derrick Anderson has been in post since 2006 having moved from the same role at Wolverhampton City Council. Educated at the prestigious King Edward VI Grammar School, in Birmingham, Mr Anderson has a degree in psychology and physical education and an MA in social work.

Derek Myers
Chief executive, Kensington and Chelsea
Age: 54
Salary: £230,000
Estimated local government career at retirement: 43 years
Annual pension: £135,125 (£2,702,500)
Lump sum: £267,375

Mr Myers has spent all his career in local government including 20 years in the field of social care. He has degrees in law and economics and post-graduate qualifications in social work and management. He worked in Essex and Hillingdon before becoming Hounslow's director of social services in 1992, and its chief executive in 1997.

Leo Boland
Chief executive, Greater London Authority
Age: 56
Salary: £205,000
Annual pension: £109,614 (£2,192,280)
Lump sum: £222,916
Local government career at retirement: 39 years

Newly appointed to his current position, Leo Boland had been chief executive of Barnet since January 2001, after being assistant chief executive at Newham and, for five months, seconded to work as deputy managing director at the London Borough of Hackney. He started at Ealing in 1974 but joined the pension scheme in 1979.

Andrew Kilburn
Chief executive, Waltham Forest
Age: not disclosed
Salary: £190,000
Estimated local government career at retirement: 43 years
Annual pension: £110,833 (£2,216,660)
Lump sum: £228,000

Mr Kilburn's local government career began in 1976 with Leicestershire County Council's social services department. He held posts within the chief executive's department at Manchester City Council (1979-90). He moved to Oldham council, becoming chief executive in 1999, before joining Waltham Forest last year.

Mary Ney
Chief executive, London Borough of Greenwich
Age: not disclosed
Salary: £180,000
Estimated local government career at retirement: 40
Annual pension: £95,250 (£1,905,000)
Lump sum £222,750

Ms Ney began her career with Westminster City council and then worked at Haringey as a corporate planner. She worked for Southwark social services for 12 years as assistant director. In 1992 she became director of social services for Harrow, and was responsible for housing, environmental health and commissioning trading standards. She took up her current post in October 2000.

Ita O'Donovan
Chief executive, Haringey
Age: not disclosed
Salary: £160,000
Estimated local government career at retirement: 23 years
Annual pension: £92,000 (£1,840,000)
Lump sum: £132,000

Before arriving at Haringey Ms O'Donovan was City Manager and Chief Executive of Stoke-on-Trent and prior to that was Deputy Manager of neighbouring Hackney. Has said she considered resigning after the Baby P scandal last year but said council needed stability.

Bruce McDonald
Chief executive, Royal Borough of Kingston
Age: not disclosed
Salary: £180,000
Estimated local government career at retirement: 40 years
Annual pension: £102,000 (£2,040,000)
Lump sum: £162,000

Bruce McDonald joined Kingston as a personnel officer more than 20 years ago and was swiftly promoted to head of personnel in 1984. In 1991 he became director of personnel and he was appointed borough chief executive in April 2000.

Doug Patterson
Chief executive, Bromley
Age 54
Salary: £140,000
Estimated local government career at retirement: 41 years
Annual pension: £78,750 (£1,575,000)
Lump sum: £152,250

Doug Patterson began his career in local government in the late Seventies. He was originally a teacher in Glasgow and has also spent three years as Chief Executive of Harlow in Essex. He has also filled an equivalent position at Wokingham, a unitary council in Berkshire.