SUFFOLK: As the �218,000 salary of county council chief Andrea Hill once again makes the headlines, The Evening Star can today reveal that her predecessor has given up nearly 18 per cent of the earnings he could claim from his new job.

Mike More is now earning just over �200,000 a year as chief executive of Westminster City Council after giving up �36,000 deferred salary – effectively a performance-related bonus.

Mr More’s successor at Suffolk County Council, Mrs Hill, remains on �218,000 a year after turning down two pay increases totalling �11,000 a year – which would have seen her pay rise by 5pc.

But she has made it clear this week that she will not be taking a pay cut.

Mrs Hill said: “I do understand that it is a big salary but I got the job in open competition.

“Anybody in the country could have applied for it, in fact many people did and they were chief executives on similar salaries to mine.

“Actually I’ve already taken a lead in pay restraint because I decided, quite by myself, to give up a pay increase of �5,000 and I gave up another increase in 2009 of over �6,000, so that’s �11,000 I’ve forgone.”

She added: “I have considered that I have already given up two pay increases and I think that was the thing to do at the time and I won’t be taking another pay cut.”

Suffolk County Council opposition leader Kathy Pollard said it was clear that the level of the chief executive’s salary remained a huge issue for people in the county.

She said: “The average salary in Suffolk is �23,000 and she earns almost ten times that amount.

“It is public money and when such savage cuts are being made the people would like to see her take a cut in her salary to show some solidarity.”

A spokesman for Westminster Council said Mr More’s decision to give up some his deferred salary was entirely his own decision.

No one from Suffolk County Council would comment on Mr More’s decision to give up some of his salary.

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