Why are we paying more for less while council bosses pocket millions?

1 April 2025, 12:43

It’s often said that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes.

Well, now we can add a third to that list: overpaid town hall bosses. And our latest Town Hall Rich List shows it was a bumper year for well-heeled bureaucrats.

Now in its 19th edition, our annual report lays bare the eye-watering sums being handed out to senior staff at local authorities. What used to be a worrying trend has now become a full-blown pay bonanza with thousands of council executives pocketing six-figure packages while services are slashed and bins go uncollected.

The numbers speak for themselves, and this year is nothing short of record-breaking. A staggering 3,906 council employees received total remuneration of over £100,000 in 2023-24. That includes salaries, bonuses, pensions, and other benefits, and it's a jump of 801 people from last year. A whopping 26 per cent increase in just 12 months.

But it doesn’t stop there. Of those, 1,092 employees took home at least £150,000, up 32 per cent. And the most jaw-dropping figure of all? 262 council bosses received £200,000 or more, a 50 per cent surge on last year’s numbers.

We’ve had to keep adding new bands to the Rich List in recent years just to capture the ballooning number of officials soaring into higher pay brackets. These remuneration packages aren’t anomalies anymore, they’re standard practice.

The question taxpayers will be asking themselves is simple: am I getting good value for money from my local council? For many, if not most, the answer is a resounding no.

Across the country, council services are in chaos. From fortnightly bin collections being downgraded or scrapped to roads resembling obstacle courses of potholes, and authorities declaring effective bankruptcy all the while hiking local taxes and charges for services. It’s hard to see what people are actually getting for all that money. Now we know a good chunk of change is heading straight into the pockets of senior management.

And all too often, some of the worst-run authorities won’t even publish the details.

Take bankrupt Birmingham City Council which is increasing council tax by 7.5 per cent. Rubbish piling up in the streets, strikes crippling local services, it’s not surprising that they’re one of fifteen councils who did not provide their accounts. Councils up and down the country are hiking rates by the maximum allowed without a referendum, pleading poverty while paying out mega salaries for sub-par performance.

Town hall bosses need to wake up and smell the coffee. The idea that they’re all worth their salaries, pensions and bonuses while frontline services are cut to the bone is an insult to every hard-working resident footing the bill. These salaries come straight out of the pockets of local taxpayers struggling to make ends meet while senior management feather their own nests.

It’s time for a serious rethink. If councils want public trust, they need to prove they’re delivering value, not luxury payslips. Transparency, accountability, and restraint aren’t optional extras, they’re long overdue necessities.

Because while waste piles up in our streets, our town halls are filled to the brim with it.

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Jonathan Eida is a researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance.

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