2,500 town hall bosses on pay that tops £100k

MORE than 2,500 town hall officials earn more than £100,000 a year, an analysis of council pay released today shows.

The number of bosses on six-figure salaries is now 2,667 – up by 226 in a year.

Some 32 local authority executives were paid more than £250,000 a year.

This is up four on the previous 12 months, according to the breakdown by the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

It follows council tax rises of nearly 5 per cent – double the rate of the consumer price measure of inflation.

The campaign group added that 667 local authority staff were on more than £150,000 a year by April 2019, an increase of 60 on the previous year.

The highest number of sixfigure earners are at Essex County Council, with 35 people on more than £100,000.

The UK’s biggest remuneration package was £615,550 given to the chief officer for health and social care at

North Lanarkshire. Glasgow City Council has the highest number of people earning more than £150,000, with 12.

City of Edinburgh Council paid out the most in terms of bonuses and performancerelated pay, with the authority’s managing director given a £47,817 bonus.

Other rich rewards went to

Birmingham’s chief operating officer for strategic services, with £398,396, and head of highways and public protection in Sefton, Merseyside, with a £372,840 package.

As well as salary, remuneration can include benefits in kind, expenses, bonuses, redundancy payments, employer’s pension contributions and compensation for loss of office.

The figures in the report include all of the remuneration costs to taxpayers, as well as organisations that councils wholly or mostly own.

The data, collected by the TaxPayers’ Alliance from Freedom of Information requests, found the number of £100,000-plus earners in councils rose 8.5 per cent in the 2018-2019 financial year compared with the previous year.

The group said: ‘Taxpayers deserve to know if they are getting value for their hardearned money.’

The campaign group called for a new freeze on council tax and for spending to be redirected to social care and public health services.

Chief executive John O’Connell added: ‘The coronavirus crisis means frontline council services are more crucial than ever but, at the same time, household budgets face an enormous squeeze from crushing council tax rises.

‘The country needs every council to cut out waste and prioritise key services without resorting to punishing tax hikes on residents.’

‘Crushing council tax rises’