Big rewards for council’s top brass
UNTIL last year it was Rishi Sunak’s local council – and the money made by top officers at Hambleton District Council in North Yorkshire puts even the Prime Minister’s state earnings in the shade.
The now-defunct local authority, which paid five of its most senior officers a total of more than £1.7m before being merged with other councils in the county, was this week held up as a bad example of the use of public money, as Local Democracy Reporter Stuart Minting writes.
Low-tax pressure group the Taxpayers’ Alliance’s Town Hall Rich List 2024 features five top officers at Hambleton District Council, all but one of whom left the authority voluntarily ahead of it being merged with North Yorkshire Council last April, despite being assured they would be given roles at the new unitary authority.
Despite its relatively small overall budget and limited responsibilities, Hambleton council features three times in the country’s top ten highest-remunerated council employees for 2022-23.
Its chief executive received £429,307, its director of environment £393,468 and its director of law and governance £375,492. In addition, the list highlights how Hambleton’s deputy chief executive received £256,866 and its director of leisure and communities £286,619.
Other district and borough councils which merged to form North Yorkshire Council last year saw their top officers receive a fraction of the funds approved by Hambleton council. Harrogate Borough Council’s chief executive received £237,000, while Ryedale’s got £136,00 and Selby’s £109,000.
The council’s leadership claimed officers might find it difficult to secure jobs after Hambleton was abolished, but South Derbyshire District Council then announced Hambleton’s outgoing chief executive would start just four weeks later as its chief executive on a salary of about £131,000.
Carl Les, Tory leader of North Yorkshire Council, said with the exception of the chief executives, all the staff of the former district and borough councils had been able to transfer to the unitary authority.
He said: “The fact that some did not do so and received very large payments for not doing so is a matter for the leadership of the district council concerned. It wasn’t unlawful, they were entitled to arrive at those decisions, however questionable those decisions might be.”
At the time, the council’s leadership said the bonus paid had reflected contractual entitlement and said they had all achieved “outstanding service to our community”.
In Newcastle, a senior council finance boss in the city was given a payout worth more than £400,000 when his role was axed.
Tony Kirkham, Newcastle City Council’s former director of resources, was made redundant in a shakeup at the Labour-run authority in summer 2022. The TPA says Mr Kirkham was awarded £496,403 in salary, compensation, and pension benefits – the third most of any council employee in the UK.