Edinburgh conference centre boss gets biggest council-sector bonus in UK, claims Town Hall Rich List

The boss of Edinburgh's International Conference Centre was today named as the local government employee with the biggest bonus in the UK.

According to the annual Town Hall Rich List, EICC chief executive Marshall Dallas was paid the bonus of £72,280 on top of his £158,711 salary, which together with pension benefits gave him a total pay package of £249,243. That made him the highest-paid council sector employee in the Capital.

.EICC boss Marshall Dallas received the biggest bonus of all council sector employees across the UK

Second on the list was the council's education director director Amanda Hatton, with a salary of £171,237 plus other benefits giving her a total package of £210,220. And the third highest-paid was council director of place Paul Lawrence, whose £170,149 salary with other benefits came to £209,185. 

They all came ahead of the soon-to-retire council chief executive Andrew Kerr, who was in fourth place with a salary of £189,834 plus benefits adding up to a total of £193,306. Edinburgh Trams boss Lea Harrison's salary of £167,115 combined with pension benefits gave him a total remuneration of £192,182, according to the list.

Education director Amanda Hatton had the second biggest pay package at £210,220.

The figures, compiled by the TaxPayers’ Alliance are all for 2022-23.  A total of 21 council sector employees in Edinburgh are said to have been paid over £100,000 that year - eight fewer than on the same list for the previous year. And that means the Capital has now been overtaken by Glasgow as the local authority in Scotland with the most employees on over £100,000. 

Edinburgh's other identified high-paid officials included Richard Carr, interim director of corporate services at the council, who had a total remuneration package of £191,804; Nigel Serafini, who was interim managing director of Lothian Buses, who was paid a total of £173,628; his successor as interim MD of Lothian Buses, Sarah Boyd, who received £154,567;  George Lowder, chief executive of Transport for Edinburgh, who was paid £157,450; and council finance director Hugh Dunn, whose package totalled £157,408.

Also on the list is Judith Proctor the now-departed chief officer for the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, responsible for health and social care in the Capital, whose remuneration totalled £123,974, though the costs involved are shared between the council, the board and the NHS.

According to the list, the identities of the other 10 council sector employees in Edinburgh paid more than £100,000 have not been disclosed.  

Altogether, the Town Hall Rich List says, the number of top officials across the UK receiving more than £100,000 in 2022-23 stood at 3,106.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said the pay of senior staff had surged. "Local authorities provide crucial services and residents will want to make sure they are getting bang for their buck with their ever-increasing bills. Residents can use these figures to ask whether precious funds are really going towards frontline services, or whether town hall bosses can get better value for money.”

An EICC spokesperson said: "The bonus is based on the delivery of key criteria relating to the hotel and hotel school development, and the operating performance of the conference centre." 

But Edinburgh council leader Cammy Day said: “These pay awards are decided by the board of EICC, not the council. However, I have repeatedly made clear that I do not agree with bonuses like this in publicly owned arms’ length companies. As a council we have debated this issue and I strongly urge restraint amongst these companies with regard to bonuses. We will be looking to address this issue in upcoming discussions on the relationship between the council and arms’ length companies.”