Pay for senior council staff

The scale of top pay at councils in West Sussex has been revealed in new researched published by the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

The organisation has provided a council-by-council breakdown of the highest earners and is calling on all authorities to stop council tax rises and cut down on wasteful spending.

The town hall rich list 2021 looks at how many staff received remuneration totalling above £100,000 in 2019/20 based on combined salary and pension contribution.

According to the TA, Horsham District Council had four staff roles above that threshold: its chief executive (£126,801 salary and £25,812 pension), director of corporate resources (£104,187 salary and £19,906 pension), director of community services (£98,892 salary and £19,906 pension) and director of place (£95,531 salary and £19,196 pension).

For West Sussex County Council there are 15 job titles listed with remuneration totalling more than £100,000.

The highest figure was for former chief executive Nathan Elvery, who departed mid-way through the financial year.

The total salary was £226,946 (including pay in lieu of notice and holiday pay), £170,000 under ‘compensation for loss of office’ and £30,708 pension contribution.

According to the TA’s figures the next highest salaries at the county council were for the executive director for place services (£153,727), executive director for adults and health (£150,000) and director of public health (£130,000).