IF you’re earning £12,145 a year working for Fenland Council it will be no consolation to know you’re the lowliest of the low, i.e. paid less than anyone else.

However whilst few probably know who YOU are, all will know the identity of an employee of the same council earning 11.3 times more and that is chief executive Paul Medd.

His £137,600 a year salary also has some useful top-ups, says a Cabinet report, including £2,000 a year health care and fees for each ward contested and uncontested in any election.

“The fees are £373 for each contested district ward and £55 for each uncontested district ward” says the report compiled by HR manager Sam Anthony. Town and parish wards earn him £104 and £28 respectively for contested and uncontested wards.

Mr Medd’s duties as returning officer also extend to additional payments for Parliamentary elections.

Ms Anthony says the pay policy – which she presented to Cabinet this week- forms part of the Localism Act of 2011.

Describing the report as not making any recommendations about salary, she said it formed a “set of principles” which lays down reporting pay and remuneration for chief officers and other employees, including the lowest paid.

She notes that during the last three years, the senior management team has been reduced, delivering £3.195million of annual savings in 2013/14.

Since 2010, says Ms Anthony, the corporate management team has shrunk from 11 to six and “therefore it is important the council’s approach to senior managers’ pay is a balance.”

Senior officers who form part of the corporate management team can earn up to £105,000 a year whilst heads of service have a pay band from £40,000 to £55,000 a year.

Unlike the days of former chief executive Tim Pilsbury, Ms Anthony says bonuses no longer form part of council policy.

* In 2011/12 two officers, excluding Mr Medd, earned over £100,000 and three between £80-£100,000.