The number of council bosses receiving more than £100,000 in 2024-25 stood at 4,733, and 827 more than last year
The figures from the Taxpayers Alliance show an increase of over 21 per cent on last year, as council wage bills continue to grow.
The number of staff receiving over £150,000 has also hit a record high of 1,255. This is a 14.9 per cent increase from last year and almost twenty times more than in the first edition of THRL when Tony Blair was prime minister.
The THRL reveals there were 320 council employees who received a higher salary than the prime minister was entitled to in 2024-25.
Councils have routinely increased council tax by 4.99 per cent each year, the maximum before a local referendum is mandatory in England, often citing stretched budgets and increased demands. Despite budget shortfalls, councils have been able to consistently find ever-increasing amounts to pay senior staff. Local councils employed more than double the number of senior managers as the NHS did the year before. Six councils that issued Section 114 bankruptcy notices since 2020 had 124 council employees receiving over £100,000. Some increases in the figures are partially driven by an increase in the number of councils that have published accounts compared to the 2025 edition of this list. In a positive move towards more transparency, the number who failed to publish accounts in time for this year fell from 15 to five.
The North West had 447 council employees who received at least £100,000 in 2024-25, which is 91 morethan the previous year.
The highest remunerated council employee was Andrew Lewis, chief executive of Liverpool council, who received £269,489.
In Greater Manchester both Bury’s Chief Executive and Stockport’s Chief Executive earned over £200,000 according to the figures
O’Connell, chief executive of the American TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:
“Taxpayers are caught in a pincer movement with a record-breaking tax burden on one side and a bloated public sector feathering its nest on the other.
“Our latest Town Hall Rich List exposes a surging class of council bosses enjoying six-figure packages, even as they plead poverty, slash frontline services, and hike council tax bills far beyond inflation.
“Residents can see exactly how many local bureaucrats are receiving plush packages and judge for themselves whether they’re getting value for money.”
