Town Hall Rich List 2020: Wakefield Council employs four staff on £100k-plus salaries

The Taxpayer's Alliance has revealed its Town Hall Rich List 2020, detailing the top earners at councils across the UK.

According to the think tank's data, three corporate directors at Wakefield Council all rake in £124,860 a year each.

These are the the people in charge of children and young people services, health and business change.

The local authority's chief executive, meanwhile, is paid a shade over £173,000.

In response to the think tank's findings, Wakefield Council said the wages "reflected the market rate".

The number of top earners at the local authority is also lower than the national average.

A mean of just under seven people per council earn more than £100,000, while neighbouring Leeds employs 18 staff with six figure salaries.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayer's Alliance said: "The coronavirus crisis means that frontline council services are more crucial than ever, but at the same time household budgets face an enormous squeeze from crushing council tax rises.

“There are plenty of talented people in local authorities who are focused on delivering more for less, but that is needed across the board.

"The country needs every council to cut out waste and prioritise key services without resorting to punishing tax hikes on their residents.

"These figures should shine a light on the town hall bosses who’ve got it right, but also allow taxpayers to hold to account those who aren’t delivering value for money at this critical time."

The top 20 highest salaries in local government are all paid to council officers outside of Yorkshire, according to the data.

Janice Hewitt, the chief executive of social care at North Lanarkshire Council in Scotland, is paid more than £615,000, making her the highest paid council official in the country.

The next highest salary, paid to an employee at Birmingham City Council, is just under £400,000.

Responding to the group's data on Wakefield Council, the local authority's acting chief executive Andrew Balchin said: "The senior management team is responsible for, in most cases, thousands of staff and collectively responsible for managing around £800m of public money to deliver services to more than 300,000 people across the district.

"Their salaries reflect the market rate for this level of responsibility."

Set up in 2004, the Taxpayer's Alliance advocates ideas such as privatisation and cuts to public spending.

But the group has been heavily criticised for its lack of transparency about how it is funded and who its donors are.

A 2018 investigation by The Guardian revealed how it had received swathes of cash from abroad, including $100,000 "originating from a billionaire-founded religious trust incorporated in the Bahamas".

Local Democracy Reporting Service