The number of town hall fat cats pocketing six-figure pay packets has rocketed to a record, a report has revealed.
Despite clobbering families with inflation-busting council tax hikes, with more kicking in today, at least 262 local authority chiefs were handed more than £200,000 in pay, pensions, pay-offs and bonuses.
This was up by 87 compared with the year before – a 50 per cent surge.
The number pocketing more than £150,000 soared from 829 to 1,092 (up by 32 per cent), while those taking £100,000 or more rocketed from 3,105 to 3,906 (25 per cent).
The study by the TaxPayers’ Alliance also found 238 council bosses had salaries in 2023-24 higher than the £172,153 a prime minister can claim.
Others left their jobs with ‘golden goodbyes’ of more than £450,000 or were awarded bonuses above £50,000.
Nottingham and Woking councils had eight officials each taking packages of at least £100,000 despite both effectively declaring themselves bankrupt in 2023.
Last year Woking was allowed to impose council tax hikes of 10 per cent on hard-pressed households as a result.
See the Mail’s breakdown of ‘How Council Chiefs Coin It’ detailing the number of town hall fat cats who are pocketing six-figure pay packets
The number has surged to a record, a new report has revealed – which comes despite ongoing bin strikes in Birmingham (above) which have seen rats roam the streets for weeks
Former chief executive of Glasgow City Council, Annemarie O’Donnell (above, has received a total payout of more than £500,000
The tally receiving six-figure pay packages is the highest since the TaxPayers’ Alliance began compiling its annual ‘Town Hall Rich List’ in 2007.
John O’Connell, the campaign group’s chief executive, said: ‘It’s a record-breaking year in many respects for taxpayers as the country hurtles towards a record tax burden, all while the public sector continues to feather its nest.
‘The number of council staff with six-figure remuneration packages has surged at the same time that services are being slashed and council tax is being hiked above inflation.’
While it acknowledged that this was partially driven by a higher number of local authorities publishing accounts, it will anger families who face inflation-busting council tax hikes of 5 per cent from today.
And it comes alongside a raft of other hikes, including water, energy, broadband bills and road tax hitting in what has been dubbed ‘Awful April’.
Most councils in England announced last month that they were planning to raise council tax bills by 4.99 per cent – the maximum amount permitted by the Government without seeking permission.
It will increase the typical Band D bill from £2,171 to £2,280.
Some councils have been allowed to impose hikes of up to 10 per cent, including Windsor & Maidenhead, Bradford, Birmingham and Somerset.
Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, John O’Connell (above), has said the public sector ‘continues to feather its nest’
It comes after councils spent almost £52million on creating Equality, Diversity and Inclusion roles last year.
Most are also still allowing staff to work from home, with a growing number even giving permission for them to log in from abroad.
Approvals soared from 73 in 2020/21 to 731 in 2023/24, with some councils admitting it was now official policy to allow staff to work from abroad for as long as a month every year.
At the same time, many town halls are cutting back on their services such as bin collections, pothole repairs and libraries.
Six councils have effectively gone bust and many more claim they are on the brink.
The biggest package was for Annemarie O’Donnell, the former chief executive of Glasgow City Council. The total payout was £567,317.
The biggest package was for Annemarie O’Donnell, the former chief executive of Glasgow City Council (Pictured: Glasgow City Chambers)
It included a salary of £209,472 and £357,845 in pension contributions. The amount of pension contribution was due to a strain on the fund costs before her retirement.
The council, which had 42 bosses on £100,000 or more, had to look at making cuts to services after already overspending its budget for 2024/25 by £38million in February this year.
Conservative MP Joe Robertson said councils ‘always seem to be able to find the money to fund council chiefs’ six-figure salaries.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, said: ‘While councils are independent employers responsible for managing their own finances, we have been clear that they should use taxpayers’ money wisely and carefully consider the impact of their decisions.’
And former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘As others have struggled to get pay rises at all after the Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s job-destroying tax hike [to employers’ National Insurance], these public servants seem to think they are living in another country – where the rules don’t apply to them.’
