Large drop in ELL local government high earners revealed in Taxpayers’ Alliance Report

A substantial drop in the number of high earners employed by  Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Lewisham have been noted in a national survey of council employee remuneration by The Taxpayers’ Alliance.

In 2011-12 Hackney Council reduced the number of employees earning more than £100,000 from 21 to 11.

Tower Hamlets, one of the poorest Boroughs in the United Kingdom in terms of social deprivation, reduced their high earners by two thirds- cutting employees receiving in excess of £100,000 from 31 to 1o.

Lewisham has cut back on their £100,000 plus earners from 13 in 2010-11 to 10 in 2011-12.

Only Croydon, which is ranked 11th in the British league table of local authorities paying the highest number of employees six figure sum salaries, increased its number from 20 to 23.

Taxpayers’ Alliance breakdown of top six earners at Croydon Council in 2011-12

The figures are published online in council annual finance accounts, but the Taxpayers’ Alliance, a pressure group that describes itself as “Britain’s independent grassroots campaign for lower taxes” regularly researches, collates and compares the data as well as adding information through Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Alliance says: “It is good news that the number of senior council staff making more than £100,000 a year is finally falling, although that may only be because many authorities have finished paying eye-watering redundancy bills.”

“Sadly, too many local authorities are still increasing the number of highly-paid staff on their payroll, some of whom are given hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation just to move from one public sector job to another,” they add.

ELL boroughs were a long way from matching Katherine Kerswell the former chief of Kent County Council who was earning nearly £600,000.

The highest earners identified in the Alliance report for 2011-12  with the figure including employer pension contributions were:

Lewisham: Barry Quirk CBE Chief Executive £230,864

[During the tax year 2011-12 Barry Quirk’s actual remuneration was reduced to the equivalent of 3 working days per week and charging “an inclusive salary of £115,432.”

Hackney: Tim Shields Chief Executive  £207,083

Tower Hamlets: Unnamed in unknown post  £182,500

Tower Hamlets has been without a chief executive since the resignation of Kevan Collins in July 2011.

Croydon: Jon Rouse Chief Executive £232,818

Jon Rouse resigned in January 2013 to join the the Department of Health as Director General of Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnerships.