TOP council bosses in York are to avoid pay cuts running into thousands of pounds.

But potential wage increases for some of City of York Council’s most senior officers may be based on performance rather than experience in future, after a review of their salaries.

A shake-up of directorates within the council saw 16 assistant directors placed in the highest pay grade available for chief officers last year, allowing them to receive between £66,068 and £73,401 a year, despite criticism by the authority’s Labour opposition.

The council’s staffing matters and urgency committee was subsequently asked to look at the implications of putting the officers in a lower grade, which has a salary ceiling of £66,068. This would have seen the salaries of three assistant directors falling by £7,333 and two more taking a cut of almost £4,700 a year.

However, the committee has decided not to do a U-turn on the pay levels after being told they were “low by comparison with other authorities” and there was “a need to recruit and retain highly-motivated and performing staff”.

Council chief executive Kersten England will review the system of incremental increases for assistant directors, and the committee has recommended performance-related pay should be introduced in future to assess whether salary rises are deserved.

Labour leader James Alexander said: “Our staff work very hard and deserve higher pay, but we are not in that economic position.

“I am disappointed the decision to allow increased pay for directors at a time of large-scale cuts to services and redundancies has been upheld.

“However, I am pleased that, due to our intervention, the council will now investigate if these increases can be linked to demonstrable performance.”

Coun Alexander raised concerns that putting assistant directors in higher pay grades because of increased workload through the restructuring of the council could set a precedent for the authority’s entire workforce.

The council will have to make £21.1 million in savings next year, with all service areas being reviewed and 170 jobs set to go during 2011/12.