Council Spending Uncovered 4: The Town Hall Rich List 2008

    • FULL LIST OF THE 818 COUNCIL EMPLOYEES EARNING OVER £100,000 PUBLISHED

 

  • INDIVIDUAL DETAILS OF NAMES, JOBS AND FULL REMUNERATION PACKAGES FOR SENIOR OFFICIALS AT HUNDREDS OF COUNCILS

 

Download the full report (PDF, 1.3MB)

 

The TaxPayers' Alliance presents the second annual Town Hall Rich List, which reveals details of the 818 local authority employees who earn over £100,000 a year from the taxpayer. As well as providing individual data for officials in hundreds of councils across the country, the report reveals:

 

    • 6 people in town halls earn more than £200,000 a year, while 88 earn more than £150,000. 14 earn more than the Prime Minister (£188,849) whilst a staggering 132 earn more than a Cabinet Minister (£137,579).

 

    • The average remuneration received by those on the list is £120,938 - over £2,300 a week.

 

    • Those who appear in both this year's Rich List and last year's enjoyed an average pay rise of 4.6% - more than double the Government's target for public sector wage inflation. The number of people featured on the list has risen from 645 last year to 818 this year - a rise of 27%, showing a boom in high salary executives.

 

  • The top ten earners in local Government and a comprehensive list of 818 other high-earning executives listed by local authority.

 

Unlike companies in the private sector, and even many other public sector bodies, local authorities do not make executive remuneration details publicly available so TPA researchers compiled the Rich List using Freedom of Information requests to every local authority in the country. A small minority of councils used a series of highly questionable excuses not to release the information - the report also features a "Top Five Ludicrous Excuses" table to name and shame those withholding important information.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“Taxpayers have a right to know how much senior town hall officials are being paid because only then can we judge whether they deserve their remuneration. Too often, council executives are rewarded handsomely even when they fail. Families and pensioners are struggling with the demands of yet another council tax rise, and councils owe it to them to cut back on executive pay hikes.”

Ben Farrugia, Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“Some local government executives still feel that what they’re paid is not the taxpayer’s business. But with council tax bills now tipping many families over the edge, it is more important than ever that councils are open and transparent about their costs. Council employees must be accountable to the local residents who pay them.”

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