Westminster tops town hall 'rich list' with dozens of staff on £100k plus - find your council

For a fourth year running, Westminster has the most high-earning employees of any council in the country.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt may think that £100,000 is “not a huge salary”, but the lobby group The Taxpayers’ Alliance certainly does.

The 55 Tufton Street-based organisation has launched its annual Town Hall Rich List, finding that more than more than 3,100 council bosses took home over £100k in 2022-23 across the country.

Westminster Council tops the list with 60 staff members on £100k+, 10 more than last year.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The new financial year has seen council tax soar across the country, and taxpayers will notice that top brass pay has simultaneously surged. Local authorities provide crucial services and residents will want to make sure they are getting bang for their buck with their ever-increasing bills. Residents can use these figures to ask whether precious funds are really going towards frontline services, or whether town hall bosses can get better value for money.”

In May 2022 Labour gained control of Westminster Council from the Tories for the first time.

A council spokesperson said: “The council has unique responsibility for managing the heart of our capital city and Westminster recruits the best talent to run a complex organisation. “Our services range from maintaining the busiest network of streets in the country and the multi-billion economy of the West End to supporting around a quarter of a million residents, including the most vulnerable in society. The salaries we pay reflect the skills needed to lead the authority.”

The Taxpayers’ Alliance was founded 20 years ago by political strategist Matthew Elliott, who would become an important figure in the Vote Leave campaign for the Bexit vote, and who was made a life peer in Liz Truss’s resignation honours.

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List of London councils with number of staff on £100k+

Here is the number of staff on £100k+ at each London council, aparts from those which did not provide accounts:

• Barking and Dagenham - No accounts
• Barnet - 7
• Bexley - 14
• Brent - 17
• Bromley - No accounts
• Camden - No accounts
• City of London Coproration - 10
• Croydon - No accounts
• Ealing - 25
• Enfield - 18
• Greenwich - 47
• Hackney - 37
• Hammersmith and Fulham - 7
• Haringey - 8
• Harrow - 32
• Havering - 21
• Hillingdon - 23
• Hounslow - 24
• Islington - 31
• Kensington and Chelsea - 6
• Kingston upon Thames - 21
• Lambeth - 36
• Lewisham - 24
• Merton - 14
• Newham - 40
• Redbridge - 23
• Richmond upon Thames - 2
• Southwark - 46
• Sutton - 13
• Tower Hamlets - 9
• Waltham Forest - 36
• Wandsworth - 21
• Westminster - 60

Town Hall Rich List

The Town Hall Rich List found that at least 3,106 council bosses earned over £100k last year across the country. With 59 councils failing to provide accounts nationally, the Taxpayers’ Alliance says the real number could be as high as 3,637.

The number of council staff receiving over £150k hit a record high of 829. The number receiving over £200k was recorded for the first, at 175.

The highest remunerated council employee was the now former director of culture, community and business services at Hampshire Council, Felicity Roe, who received £651,158 in total remuneration. This included a pension payment of £409,822, loss of office payment of £121,203 and salary of £120,133.