Carpenter nets £22k bonus

A council carpenter has raked in more than £22,000 worth of bonuses in just one year – on top of his basic wage of £14,721.

The chippy pocketed the sum under a system which saw bonus payouts of £453,538 to Cannock Chase council workers in the housing maintenance department last year.

It is the only department at the council to operate the salary-plus-bonuses system instead of overtime.

The multi-skilled carpenter, who has not been named, receives a basic salary of £14,721. His bonuses, paid monthly, for 2007/08 amounted to £22,467.

Council leaders say the worker earned so much because he worked out of normal hours and on emergency call-outs. He is said to provide a range of other skills, including plumbing, bricklaying and tiling.

It comes at a time when the council is making £870,000 savings and made 29 posts redundant.

It is looking to end the bonus system in favour of a fixed salary and talks with unions are advanced.

Council leader Neil Stanley said the example of the carpenter was an exception to the norm.

He said: "The bonus scheme under which this employee amassed those earnings was set many years ago and we have since managed to negotiate an end to it with the unions. When single status came in for the workforce, some employees were reluctant to change to it because of the implications for the bonus schemes.

"Previously, if they worked extreme numbers of hours in overtime, weekends, bank holidays and Christmas, getting time-and-a-half and double time, it was possible to build up very high earnings.

"In my previous spell at the council, about 20 years ago, the second highest paid person, after the chief executive, was the chauffeur, because he did so many unsociable hours.

"What I must stress is that this example is very rare."