Council says senior staff earning their salaries as Taxpayers' Alliance publishes 'Town Hall Rich List'

Council bosses in South Tyneside say their senior officers are earning their salaries.
Four senior officers at South Shields Town Hall earn more than £100,000 a year. Picture by FRANK REIDFour senior officers at South Shields Town Hall earn more than £100,000 a year. Picture by FRANK REID
Four senior officers at South Shields Town Hall earn more than £100,000 a year. Picture by FRANK REID

The TaxPayers’ Alliance annual ‘Town Hall Rich List’ shows that four senior officers are each earning over £100,000 a year in their roles.

The figures also show that four others are earning over £90,000 a year.

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A spokeswoman for South Tyneside Council said their salaries represent the responsibilities which go with their jobs.

She said: “The role of local authorities and the need to have the right people in post has never been more crucial as the ongoing coronavirus crisis has demonstrated.

“Competitive salaries are paid to attract and retain talented individuals who are responsible for the delivery of a variety of highly complex services.

“These involve protecting our vulnerable adults and children, delivering regeneration and jobs and, as can be seen most recently, helping to keep our communities safe during an extremely challenging time of crisis."

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She added: “South Tyneside Council has been judged a high performing council as rated by independent external agencies. Over the last decade South Tyneside Council has also significantly reduced its management costs.

"This has resulted in a structure that is leaner, more efficient and offers greater value for money to our residents while still providing the key public services that our residents rely on.”

The figures show that the council’s chief executive is paid £161,920 a year, with the corporate director business and resources earning £119,918 a year.

The borough’s corporate director regeneration and environment gets a salary of £109,966 and head of children's and families social care earns £102,739.

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The head of adults and integrated care earns £96,123, while the director of public health gets a salary of £95,592.

South Tyneside’s head of pensions earns a salary of £92,949, while the head of learning and early help gets £91,413.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance report also shows that there are 95 senior council officials in the region who are earning over £100,000 a year.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance says the 14th version of its annual list comes at a time when – for the average band D property – taxpayers in England will have to pay a council tax rise of 4.4 per cent - an extra £81 a year in 2021/22.

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A spokesman said: “Against this background, the number of local authority employees receiving over £100,000 in total remuneration has risen to the highest level since 2013-14.”The average number of ‘six figure’ employees in each local authority is seven.

Other key findings in the report are that least 2,802 people employed by local authorities in 2019-20 received more than £100,000 in total remuneration – an increase of 135 on 2018-19 and 693 received over £150,000, 26 more than the previous year.

Nationally, 31 local authority employees were found to have received remuneration in excess of a quarter of a million pounds in 2019-20.

That is one fewer than the previous year.

The report also found that the total amount of expenses paid to senior local authority employees in the UK amounted to £1,274,497.

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