Town Hall Rich List 2023 marks the 16th version of this list, first compiled in 2007. For the past 16 years the TaxPayers’ Alliance has assembled the most comprehensive list of council employees in the UK in receipt of over £100,000 in total remuneration.
This is usually released in April, to coincide with the new council tax charges being introduced for residents. Some Frequently Asked Questions can be found below.
Where can I find a full breakdown of the figures, including data for my local council?
The full data is available here.
Councils do not recognise these figures. Where are they sourced from?
Figures are sourced from the annual accounts published by each council named. These are available online on each council’s website. Audited accounts are used whenever available. If audited accounts are not provided by the council, unaudited or draft accounts are used. These figures are also provided by the council.
Why do you use both salaries and other payments?
The amount we use, unless otherwise specified, is the total remuneration an individual receives. This amount represents a fuller picture of the cost to taxpayers. Salary payments alone do not take into account additional payments an employee might receive such as bonuses, benefits in kind payments, loss of office, pension contributions and pension strain payments. These additional payments are paid to an individual (or their pension funds) by the council - therefore representing the cost to council taxpayers.
Why are pensions included? That is not money actually paid to council staff.
Pensions are schemes that allow employees to defer some of their income until they retire. We include costs incurred by a council, for an employee, in the Town Hall Rich List. Pension payments represent a portion of the total cost incurred by the taxpayer. Pensions are part of the financial benefit enjoyed by employees for work done and part of the cost borne by employers, which is why council accounts include them.
Why are redundancies included? Some of these payments were made to people on salaries below £100,000.
We include costs incurred by a council, for an employee, in the Town Hall Rich List. Redundancy/loss of office payments represent a portion of the total cost incurred by the taxpayer. This is why redundancy payments are included with salary payments, bonuses, benefits, and loss of office payments. Redundancy payments are paid to an individual, by the council - therefore it is a cost to council taxpayers.
What is pension strain? Why has this been included?
Pension strain costs are payments made to employees whose regular pension payments do not account for the whole of their entitlement. An early retiree may claim an extra payment with their employer’s consent to account for reduced benefits. These payments are included as they are just another type of pension payment.
Councils already publish these figures. Why are these being released now?
The statutory deadline for most councils to publish their audited accounts is 30 September after the preceding financial year (30 September 2022 for the 2021-22 financial year for this year’s Rich List data). The deadline for the preparation of draft accounts was 31 July 2022. A delay in the publication of accounts is permitted under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and a delay notice must be issued by the local authority.
The Town Hall Rich List is the only comprehensive list of all senior council employees throughout the country and is always published in April to coincide with new council tax charges. This allows residents to see their local council’s senior employees’ remunerations and directly compare these to other councils around the country.
The data is old. When and how was this data compiled?
This data is based on the latest full financial year accounts available from councils (2021-22). The statutory deadline for councils to publish their 2021-22 audited accounts was 30 September 2022. Since many councils used this time allocation fully (and occasionally exceeded it), data cannot be comprehensively compiled before December 2022 and takes many months to collate, analyse and check. The Town Hall Rich List is the only comprehensive list of all senior council employees throughout the country and is always published in April to coincide with new council tax charges.
Why is my council missing from the data?
Of the 398 current local authorities who should have filed accounts for 2021-22, 47 had not even published draft accounts by 11 April 2023 - the highest number since the Town Hall Rich List series began. This means that the nationwide total figure of council staff with remuneration in excess of £100,000 is undoubtedly understated. A small number of councils also do not employ any staff who receive over £100,000.
Councils have struggled with the pandemic and inflationary pressures. Why are you attacking council staff?
These figures do not attack council staff, they merely highlight councils’ senior employees’ remunerations. Accountability matters as a core principle of local government. These figures should shine a light on the town hall bosses who are delivering for residents, but also allow taxpayers to hold to account those who are not offering good value for money.
Shouldn’t council bosses be offered higher remuneration deals to attract the best people?
Many council bosses in receipt of six-figure remuneration packages are responsible for services that residents consider substandard. Offering even larger pay packets to bosses would therefore be a kick in the teeth for people seeing their council tax increase year on year. The salaries offered to people in these positions should be accountable to local residents, who may not consider them justified.
Why do some entries have a “not specified”/”not disclosed” name or job title?
In instances where an entry includes a job role which is “not specified”, this entry has been included from the council’s pay band data, meaning that while we can include the role’s mid-point remuneration, the details of the role have not been made available.
In instances where the name of a person holding a role is listed as “not disclosed”, the council has not made the name available in their reporting. Local authorities in England and Wales are only required to provide names for those with a salary of £150,000 or more, but Scottish councils publish the names of all senior employees.
Why do you include council-owned subsidiary companies?
Employees of council-owned subsidiaries have been included because they are detailed in either the draft or audited financial statements. These subsidiary employees have been included when receiving over £100,000 in total remuneration.
We think you’ve double-counted some of your entries in the pay bands?
For all councils’ figures, two places are checked in the accounts: the list of senior executives’ remuneration, and council employees in receipt of more than £50,000 (in salary), which are generally presented in £5,000 pay bands. In many instances, there will be a note above or below the pay bands table that says that these either include all officers or are in addition to the list of senior executives.
Who funds the TaxPayers’ Alliance?
We have over 3,000 supporters who have given us money, and tens of thousands of others who do not, but all individual names are kept private. In the history of the TPA, we’ve received over 25,000 individual donations. The average value of an individual donation is currently £497. Unlike many other groups, the TPA does not receive a penny of taxpayers' money.
More information is available here.