Pay freeze for council chief executives in Scotland

The chief executives of Scotland’s 32 local authorities have agreed to forego a salary increase in 2010/11.

It means that the final year of a deal agreed in 2008 which would have given chief executives a 2.5 per cent pay increase from April 2010 will no longer take place.

It follows negotiotions between the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).

COSLA's Michael Cook welcomed the decision: "The testing times both now and which lie ahead are such that leadership counts and chief executives have shown genuine leadership which we trust will set an example to others.

"It mirrors the decision of Council Leaders to agree to their pay being frozen in the coming year. It is significant that the political and executive leadership of councils have recognised the unprecedented challenges which lie ahead."