Town Hall Rich List 2012
3,097 council staff earning over £100k
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The only comprehensive guide to top pay at UK local councils, with detailed breakdowns for each council included
- A record 3,097 council staff earned over £100,000 in 2010-11 (up 13 per cent on 2009-10)
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) proudly presents the sixth Town Hall Rich List, the 'Who's Who' of local government fat cats, detailing all those whose remuneration exceeds £100,000. As millions of voters across the country prepare to cast judgement on their local council at the ballot box, this information will help inform decisions as to which authorities are delivering taxpayer value for money.
Since the first Town Hall Rich List in 2007, the number of senior staff receiving such large sums has soared and the latest list shows that trend continuing. Executive pay in town halls across the UK has continued to be insulated from economic reality, despite the urgent need to find savings and many councils claiming that they are being forced to cut services because they are getting less money from central government.
The Town Hall Rich List 2012 reveals the job titles, full remuneration and many of the names of all local council employees earning over £100,000 for the financial year 2010-11. These details have been taken from accounts published by councils themselves.
Town Hall Rich List 2012 is more comprehensive than ever before. Some of the entries on our list include redundancy payments pushing employees into higher remuneration brackets, but this does not wholly account for the increased number receiving remuneration packages over £100,000.
The key findings of this research are:
- There were at least 3,097 council employees who received total remuneration in excess of £100,000 in 2010-11, a 13 per cent increase on the previous year’s 2,696.
- There were 1,146 council employees whose total remuneration was between £90,000 and £99,999 excluding pension contributions. Even taking the minimum employer contribution level on the Local Government Pension Scheme of 14 per cent, an employee receiving a salary of £90,000 would receive a minimum pension contribution of £12,600, and therefore a total remuneration in excess of £100,000. This means that our total of 3,097 is likely to be an underestimate.
- In 2010-11 there were 52 council employees who received remuneration over £250,000, up from 45 in 2009-10.
- In 2010-11 658 council employees received remuneration between £150,000 and £249,999, up from 575 in 2009-10.
- The average remuneration increase for staff in the Town Hall Rich List from 2009-10 to 2010-11 was 26.85 per cent. But this would have been driven by a number of employees receiving large redundancy payments in 2010-11. To account for this, a more accurate picture would be the median average increase, which is 1.83 per cent. This was at the same time that a wider public sector pay freeze was in place.
- The council with the most employees in receipt of remuneration over £100,000 in 2010-11 was Barnet Council with 47. There were a further 34 councils with at least 20 employees receiving more than £100,000 in 2010-11
- The council employee with the largest remuneration package in the UK in 2010-11 was Ian Drummond, the Executive Director of Special Projects at Glasgow City Council, who received £450,628. The largest remuneration excluding redundancy payments was Geoff Alltimes, Chief Executive of Hammersmith and Fulham Council with £281,666, an increase of 3.97 per cent on the previous year’s total.
- The largest remuneration package in Wales in 2010-11 was received by Bryn Parry-Jones, Chief Executive of Pembrokeshire County Council, who received £195,164. This was an increase of 2.64 per cent on the previous year. The council in Wales with the highest number of employees with remuneration exceeding £100,000 was Cardiff City Council with 19 in 2010-11.
- The largest remuneration package in Scotland in 2010-11, excluding any redundancy payments, was received by George Black, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council who received £217,419, the same as the previous year. Glasgow also had the highest number of employees at a Scottish local authority with remuneration exceeding £100,000 in 2010-11 with 25.
- The largest remuneration package in England in 2010-11 was received by Peter Gilroy, Chief Executive of Kent County Council with £439,071, although that does include a substantial redundancy payment.
- The largest remuneration package in Northern Ireland in 2010-11 was received by an employee of Belfast City Council who received remuneration (excluding pension contributions) of between £110,000 and £120,000 With two, it was also the Northern Irish authority with the highest number of employees in receipt of remuneration exceeding £100,000.
- The largest remuneration package in London in 2010-11 was Leo Boland, Chief Executive of the Greater London Authority who received £433,157, although this also included a large payment for loss of office. After Barnet, the London Boroughs with the second highest number of employees in receipt of remuneration exceeding £100,000 were Wandsworth Council and Tower Hamlets Council, both with 32.
"Taxpayers will be astonished that so many council employees are still getting such a generous deal while everyone else in the public sector is facing a pay freeze. As millions of voters across the country prepare for local council elections, it is vital that they can make an informed choice about which local authorities are delivering value for money. The Town Hall Rich List shows that while councils insist cuts can only mean pressure on frontline services, some clearly have cash in the bank when it comes to paying their own senior staff. These council executives must ensure they have the moral authority to lead necessary spending cuts, in many cases that will mean taking a pay cut themselves. Households have seen their Council Tax bills double over the last decade and deserve better value."
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