Politically correct 'non jobs' cost the taxpayer £600million a year

The 15,700 posts were offered by local councils and quangos in the Guardian newspaper's controversial 'Jobzilla' Society section.

They paid an average salary of £38,000 – a fifth more than in the private sector.

They included a raft of politically correct jobs, according to the TaxPayers' Alliance pressure group.

Examples ranged from a community empowerment network programme manager at Thurrock Council in Essex – paying almost £30,000 – to assistant chief executive (value for money) at Charnwood Borough Council in Leicestershire.

The latter post – supposed to save the taxpayer money – pays £55,000 a year.

In November alone, Hackney Council and the East London NHS Foundation Trust each offered three separate equality and diversity jobs paying £39,030 each – a total salary bill of more than £225,000.

The phenomenon, which has continued despite a promise by Gordon Brown three years ago to cut non-essential posts, was branded Jobzilla after the all-devouring screen monster Godzilla.

Peter Cuthbertson, research fellow for the TPA, said: 'The public sector is clogged with these ridiculous jobs, draining huge amounts of resources away from essential activities.

"It's insulting to expect taxpayers who struggle to meet the taxman's demands to foot the bill for unnecessary roles."

Every Wednesday, the Guardian's Society supplement fills its 40 to 50 pages with adverts for public sector jobs.

The TPA said that, over the past 12 months, 15,678 jobs have been offered by councils and Government bodies, with a total salary bill of £585million.

The final cost to the taxpayer will be even higher when the cost of advertising the posts is factored in.

Each council spends an average of £394,000 a year on job adverts. Across the country, the total spend would be £185million.

The salaries paid for the 'non-jobs' are described as 'staggering' by the TPA.

The average full-time position on offer in the Guardian's pages is £38,508, which is £7,606 more than in the private sector.

The benefits listed range from a '£3,053 location allowance' to a '£1,000 essential car user allowance' and a £675 environmental allowance.

Some of the job descriptions are vague or meaningless, according to the TPA.

The advert for Charnwood's assistant chief executive (value for money) says: "We emphatically don't want a one-off, cost-cutting approach; instead, you'll create a mainstream culture of asking the right questions, persuading people to embrace the issue of VfM rather than avoiding it."

The TPA's annual non-jobs report said: "We would have thought a cost-cutting approach was exactly what was needed!"

TPA spokesman Tim Aker said: "It's now inexcusable for anyone to say tax cuts mean fewer frontline services.

"Each non-job representing bureaucratic, politically correct council over-staffing is taxpayers' money diverted from essential services.

"Taxpayers should demand lower tax bills and an end to these non-jobs."

Earlier this year, the TPA revealed the number of council 'fat cats' earning salaries of more than £100,000 has risen by a third, up to 578 in 2005-2006, from 429 in the previous year.