Unfair play will affect services (From Western Telegraph)

Unfair play will affect services

9:47am Wednesday 16th January 2013 in Letters

WE have recently learnt of staff shortages in the Social Services department of Pembrokeshire County Council. It appears that the reason for this is that the starting salary of a social worker in Pembrokeshire is about £5,000 a year less than in Carmarthenshire.

Apart from being unfair to the social workers this is bound to have an effect on the service that the public receive. In case we think that this situation will not affect us directly we should remember that many of us will be old and frail one day.

At the same time that we underpaid social workers in the front line our chief executive, Bryn Parry-Jones was paid £195,164 in 2010/11, according to the Tax Payers’ Alliance, making him the highest paid officer in Wales.

(Western Telegraph, June 5th, 2012).

Why are we paying him so generously? Is it because of the wonderful way that the council is run? That cannot be true if the Estyn, CSSIW and Welsh Audit Office reports are correct.

The Independent Political Group IPG regularly boasted that the council tax in Pembrokeshire was the lowest in Wales; this was an major part of their electoral appeal. How did they achieve the lowest council tax and the highest paid chief executive?

Could it be by underfunding the social services in the county?

JOHN RHYS DAVIES Mynachlogddu