Number of Wakefield Council employees earning £100k nearly doubles in three years

The annual Town Hall Rich List shows that the number of Wakefield Council employees receiving remuneration of at least £100,000 a year rose to nine in the 2019/20 financial year, up from five in 2018/19.

The figures, which include salary, expenses and pensions paid to each local authority’s top earners, are compiled each year by the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

The alliance said high salaries were particularly unpopular with the public in the face of council tax rises.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers facing huge and hated council tax rises want to know they are getting value for money from their local authority leadership. At the onset of the coronavirus crisis, thousands of town hall officials were taking home huge sums.

“While councils were plunged into tackling the pandemic, many staff will have more than earned their keep, but households have nevertheless struggled with enormous and unpopular council tax rises.”

In the most recent financial year, Wakefield Council’s top earner was the Chief Executive, who received a salary of £176,868 and pension of £34,951, as well as expenses of £175.

Among other high earners were Wakefield’s director of public health, whose pension and salary combined made up a package of more than £111,000, and four corporate directors, who each took home a package of more than £149,000.

In total, the council’s top nine earners took home packages worth more than £1.27 million.

The total package for each top earner on Wakefield Council’s Town Hall Rich List for 2019/20, including salary, expenses and pension, is as follows:

Chief Executive: £211,994.Director of Public Health: £111,775. Corporate Director Regeneration and Economic Growth: £149,552.

Monitoring Officer Service Director Legal and Governance: £106,097.

Corporate Director Adults, Health and Communities: £158,143. Corporate Director Children and Young People: £149,517.

Corporate Director - Business Change: £149,517.

Chief Finance Officer: £104,214.

Undisclosed: £137,500.