AN angry town hall boss has lambasted plans to slash cabinet members’ pay by £1,700 a year each – claiming they may do less work and claim more expenses.

The annual review of allowances at Tendring Council by an independent panel said cabinet members’ pay should be cut from £10,382 a year to £8,669.

The allowance is on top of the basic £5,122 paid to all 60 of the authority’s councillors.

The panel’s recommendation was due to be made earlier this year, but was postponed for further recommendations from councillors.

Ukip’s Jeff Bray called for the pay cut to be backdated to the council’s last annual meeting in May, which would have forced cabinet members to pay back more than £700 each, but his amendment was defeated.

Council cabinet member Nick Turner said there was no explanation for the recommendation – and that calls to backdate the decision were “spiteful”.

He said: “It will not save any money, as those enlightened councillors who do not claim all expenses will now start doing so.

“Less work will be done and more time will be taken – and that is only human nature.”

He added: “The point is not to save money by paying less, it is for all us councillors to produce more, bring more to the table.”

Mr Turner claimed “I personally in the last four years brought £36million to this council,” after heading the council’s huge sea defence improvement scheme.

He added the recommendation to offer £500 to councillors on the planning committee was “derisory” for the amount of work they did.

Labour group leader Ivan Henderson lambasted Mr Turner for implying cabinet members would do less work.

“There are ten cabinet members and only two departments left on this council,” he said.

“It is a disgrace to argue that they would do less because they are not getting as much money.

“If I had said that to my boss, I would have been sacked. Perhaps he should be sacked for saying it.

“You are getting decent money. If people out there got what they were earning they would jump at the job – people are desperate for work out there.”

The panel’s recommendations were approved at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Council leader Neil Stock said: “Cabinet members are taking a 20 per cent pay cut – that is a substantial cut in their allowances. To backdate that is unreasonable.

“It is bad enough taking a pay cut, but nevertheless backdating it is a crazy, reckless idea just to try to score some sort of political point – and against what the independent remuneration panel has recommended.”

Mr Bray said: “The fact that more was received since May has to be wrong and it should be repaid to the council.”