The 44 bosses paid more than Keir Starmer

Forty-four bosses at councils receiving effective bailouts are being paid more than the Prime Minister, including at authorities raising council tax by more than the maximum rate, The i Paper can reveal.

The councils raised salaries of their top brass despite financial difficulties which led to “exceptional financial support” from the Government, analysis of council documents and local reports found.

The biggest pay rates were found in Birmingham, Somerset and the London boroughs of Lambeth, Haringey and Enfield.

Last month 30 English local authorities were given the green light by ministers to collectively borrow £1.5bn to plug significant budget gaps, which have been blamed on underfunding and soaring demand for social care and other services.

Six local authorities were also given permission to raise council tax by more than the national cap of 5 per cent.

Shadow Communities Secretary Kevin Hollinrake said residents would be “dismayed” by the pay of bosses at councils under significant strain, while former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg called the “vast” salaries “ridiculous”.

Birmingham City Council’s managing director Joanne Roney was paid the highest salary, at £295,000 – 13 per cent more than her predecessor, who was paid £260,389.

This was also the biggest pay rise among the 44 high earners paid more than the Prime Minister’s salary of £166,786 a year, spread across 23 councils.

Birmingham, which declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2023, was given permission to increase council tax by 7.5 per cent in April. Last year it raised the levy by 10 per cent.

Somerset Council, which will raise council tax by 7.5 per cent in April, paid an unnamed staff member £275,000 to £280,000 in 2023-24, and two more individuals £245,000 to £250,000, according to the council’s most recent annual accounts.

Chief executive Duncan Sharkey earns less than these staff members but still a hefty £202,950, the document showed. Two more staff members were listed as earning £170,000 to £190,000.

In the previous year, the council spent less – a combined £172,000 – on the pay of two different chief executives. Only one staff member was paid more than the prime minister in 2022-23, but highly paid staff increased in the most recent year.

Lambeth Council spent £256,346 and £253,770 paying its “One Lambeth” transformation director and interim corporate director of finance and governance, respectively, in 2023-24, which included the cost of agency fees.

The local authority, which was given a £40m financial support package, had eight officials paid more than the PM – the highest number among the local authorities.

In Slough, the previous government appointed Will Tuckley as interim chief executive, paying him £1,100 a day for four days a week – equating to a yearly salary of £228,800 if paid for 52 weeks. In 2022-23, the previous chief executive had been paid £174,307.

The former Conservative government also appointed Annabel Scholes as Slough’s interim chief finance officer last year on £1,375 a day including an agency fee. If paid five days a week for a year, this would work out to £357,500. She has since been made a permanent member of staff but her salary has not yet been published.

Slough Borough Council raised tax by 10 per cent in 2023 and by 8.5 per cent in 2024, and was granted £15.7m.

London councils Haringey, Enfield and Newham had some of the biggest pay rates for their chief executives and directors.

Haringey, which got £37m in support from the Government, pays chief executive Andy Donald £225,870. Its director of finance salary was last disclosed as £186,063.

Enfield’s previous chief executive, Ian Davis, who quit in December, was paid £221,604. The job was advertised with a range of £191,000 – £226,000. Davis has just taken up the same role at Lambeth Council.

In Newham, where council tax will rise by 9 per cent, chief executive Abi Gbago is paid between £215,394 and £225,390.

Responding to The i Paper‘s findings, the shadow Communities Secretary said: “Residents will be left dismayed by Labour councils raising the salaries of town hall bosses, whilst delivering massive hikes on taxpayers in areas such as Newham and Birmingham.

‘It’s ridiculous’

“Liberal Democrat councils are following Labour’s lead by imposing a 7.5 per cent increase on residents in Somerset while raising officials’ salaries,” he said.

“In Whitehall, Keir Starmer set the lead, by massively increasing the pay of his own chief of staff, whilst hiking up taxes across the board.

“Under Labour, you pay more and get less.”

A spokesperson for the Government said: “While councils are 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.

“We continue to engage with these councils and seek assurances from them to ensure they are delivering for local residents.”

Rees-Mogg, the former Tory minister for government efficiency, said: “It’s ridiculous that we have a lot of badly-run councils who spend money carelessly and pay each other vast salaries, and then just extract money from council taxpayers because they can.”

He said chief executives often recommend that councillor allowances go up, and in return, councillors vote to give them a big pay increase.

He said pay rises for chief executives should be limited to the inflation rate used for benefits this year, which is 1.7 per cent.

While he said exceptions can be made for pay rises for new chief executives coming in to “clear up” messes, they also needed to be held accountable and sacked for failures.

He added: “If a business goes bankrupt, it has to reform and restart, and it has to provide a product that people want to get out of bankruptcy, whereas if a council goes bankrupt, it just sends a bigger bill to taxpayers, so councils have no real incentive to run themselves efficiently.”

Darwin Friend, head of research at the TaxPayers’ Alliance think-tank, said taxpayers “will be outraged that while their councils plead poverty and hike taxes, town hall bosses are pocketing bumper pay packets”.

He said: “Struggling residents are being forced to bail out councils that can’t balance the books, yet their top brass are still raking in six-figure salaries.

“If councils can afford these eye-watering wages, they have no excuse for demanding even more from hard-pressed taxpayers.”

Simon Kaye, policy director at the Reform public services think-tank, said taxpayers would be “forgiven for feeling concerned about where their money goes”.

Pay rates needed to attract talent – council responses

Councils argued their pay rates were high to attract the best leadership and remain competitive with the private sector.

Slough Borough Council said its current chief executive was appointed by its government intervention commissioners and is a managing director commissioner as well as the chief executive director, so is “different from a traditional permanently appointed” chief executive. A spokesperson said his pay rate is similar to the other government commissioners in Slough.

A Newham Council spokesperson said their request for exceptional financial support “stems entirely” from the £100m cost of supporting families facing homelessness over the next three years. The council said it has set the seventh lowest council tax in London.

A spokesperson for Croydon Council said staff salaries are set by an independently assessed evaluation system, commonly used across local government, which “ensures Croydon is in line with other councils”. It said its chief executive was paid below the market median for all London boroughs.

An Eastbourne Borough Council spokesperson said it shares all services with Lewes District Council, including a senior management team that includes a chief executive and just three directors.

They said this has generated savings of £3.2m without cuts to frontline services. The chief executive is also recently being shared with Hastings Borough Council, they added.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said it has “processes in place that set out the framework for senior salary levels and that ensure value for money”, and “it is important that we are able to recruit and retain experienced experts to implement policy and oversee performance across a range of vital services”.

A Barnet Council spokesperson said its pay is “in line with that paid by other London boroughs to ensure we can attract and retain the best staff”, and that pay increases have “generally been below the rate of inflation for several years and is in line with a national pay agreement”.

They said it has restructured its senior team to reduce costs by 10 per cent and found £23m in efficiency savings. They added that the council has been affected by austerity funding cuts and rising demand for services such as adult social care and temporary accommodation.

Somerset Council’s spokesperson said they are restructuring the entire council which will save £34m from its pay bill by 1 April 2025, including a reduction in the number of senior managers from 30 to 21.

They added: “Since local government reorganisation in April 2023, we have saved £4.1m in senior management salaries. The pay grades for all roles, including senior leaders, are comparable with other councils and are informed by nationally recognised pay negotiations and job evaluation processes. All staff received a pay rise in line with the nationally set pay award this year.”

Shropshire Council’s spokesperson said the amount senior managers are paid and any pay award for these posts is voted for by councillors. They said councillors endorsed a review of senior managers last week which has just come into effect and reduced the senior leadership team at Shropshire from 20 to 12.5 posts, with no regrades, saving around £1m in salary costs.

They said salaries are locally agreed but are informed by the nationally agreed pay awards for chief officers as well as being routinely benchmarked against similar roles in comparable councils and industries, in order to attract strong leadership.

In the last year, Shropshire Council has delivered more than £46.6m of savings, equivalent to nearly 18 per cent of its revenue budget, they added.

A Woking Council spokesperson said they no longer have a chief executive as the council is under Government intervention and is therefore run by government-appointed commissioners, with their remuneration set by the government. They added that council tax will rise by 2.99 per cent, below the maximum set by the government.

The remaining councils did not respond when approached for comment.

Council spending waste

Six councils given approval to increase council tax above the normal 5 per cent limit, due to their perilous financial position, have faced accusations of financial mismanagement and poor performance in recent years – here are a few examples.

Bradford’s £50m venue unable to open

Bradford is the UK’s City of Culture for 2025 but the council’s woes have been symbolised by the fate of its new venue Bradford Live.

The former Odeon cinema was bought in 2012 and £50m has been spent turning it into an arts and culture destination which was due to open in November 2024.

However, the operator NEC Group pulled out of a deal to run it with little explanation, leaving the 3,800-seat venue empty.

Birmingham’s botched IT system

Birmingham has been criticised for a series of failings which have contributed to its worsening financial position.

A new IT system for finance and payroll went live in 2022 but has been hit with repeated glitches leaving the authority unable to file auditable accounts.

Costs are estimated to reach more than £216m by 2026, according to a report published in 2024.

Maidenhead golf club sold in £105m deal

As part of Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council’s attempt to plug its financial black hole, it looks set to sell Maidenhead Golf Club in a £105m deal with a property developer to build 1,500 homes.

Club professional Steve Geary told golf website Bunkered: “I’m very upset because it’s a great golf club. I don’t know how the council get away with it to be honest. They’re only selling it because they’re in debt.”

Read more here.