Employee costs

These are the gross earnings of all paid employees in the authority.

Include such items as overtime, sick and holiday pay, benefit allowances, value of free supplies, and severance and redundancy payments. Levies paid to the Accident Compensation Corporation and employer contributions to superannuation schemes should also be included, and where possible, separately identified.

Exclude: Payments for expert advice and services received from consultants, legal and other experts. As these experts are not regarded as employees, include payments to them in the relevant column under Purchases of goods and services.