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County council Conservative leader Cllr Paul Carter has today defended a one per cent pay offer in the face of a protest by angry demonstrators outside County Hall.

Around 40 protesters threatened strike action over the offer to KCC's 6,000 employees. They claimed the move would hit hundreds of low-paid workers.

Speaking during today's budget meeting - where the offer is expected to be approved along with this year's council tax levels - Cllr Carter said unions needed to recognise what was happening elsewhere in the private sector during the recession.

He said: "The way the world has moved on, everybody agrees that one per cent is fair and appropriate.

"The unions have to recognise out there in the private sector, it is really hurting. I hope unions do not call for action...I believe that would be desperately unpopular with the people of Kent who pay taxes."

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Audio: Cllr Paul Carter explains his feelings on the subject to kmfm's Jo Sword >>>

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But opposition Labour group leader Cllr Mike Eddy said more than 60 per cent of KCC staff were on salaries of less than £20,000 a year and would be particularly badly hit.

"KCC is the biggest employer in Kent and this removes a significant amount of purchasing power from the local economy. People find it very difficult to understand how we can mislay £50million in Iceland but not afford a better pay award."

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Trudy Dean said the pay offer did not reflect the work employees had done to make KCC a top-rated authority.

"It is not enough to suggest that our staff are our most impportant resource, say their performance is exemplary and then offer them one per cent."

Today, the demonstrators have waved placards saying 'It wasn't us who lost £50m' and 'one per cent inflation = starvation'.

David Lloyd, branch secretary of Kent's Unison, said: "People are going to have to pay more National Insurance, higher gas and electric bills, so low paid workers could actually end up more disadvantaged."

He argued the offer was especially unfair for teaching assistants: "The teachers got awarded 2.4 per cent so therefore you're going to have people working alongside people who have had a higher pay increase than they have."

People have been texting our radio station kmfm with their comments today.

One listener and KCC employee said: "We currently work all hours for one of the lowest wages in the country."

But another listener - Glen from Chatham - texted: "They want to try living in the real world."

During today's meeting, KCC's opposition Labour group is expected to table alternative spending plans that would see lower paid staff receive a bigger pay rise this year.

KCC has said that in the current rececession, it needs to show restraint and that a higher award would result in redundancies.

Council tax bills, meanwhile, are poised to rise by just under 2.5 per cent if the Conservative administration's budget is approved, as expected.

We exclusively revealed last month that KCC staff were considering strike action over the offer.

The news was met with anger by many readers who emailed our website.

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