On Wednesday we published the thirteenth edition of the Town Hall Rich List. It is the only comprehensive list of its kind with a council-by-council breakdown of local government employees who receive remuneration in excess of £100,000 a year.
In the midst of the current crisis and with the average council tax bill now at £1,817, accountability is key. You deserve to know whether you are getting value for your hard-earned money or not. We've called for council tax to be frozen and local authority spending to be focused on frontline health and social care services.
Key findings:
- In 2018-19 at least 2,667 council employees received total remuneration in excess of £100,000.
- Of those, 667 took home pay packets of more than £150,000.
- Essex County Council employed the most staff (35) being paid over £100,000.
- The highest remunerated council employee was the chief officer for health and social care integration at North Lanarkshire council, receiving £615,550.
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There will be council employees who are worth their salaries but those who under-perform should be replaced. It is vital, especially during the current crisis, that our public servants are eradicating every penny of wasteful spending and delivering essential services. Taxpayers who have seen year-after-year of council tax rises deserve nothing less.
I'm delighted to report that the Town Hall Rich List has received coverage in every corner of the country. At last count we had over 500 media hits, notably, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Daily Mail and The Sun. The TPA also received fantastic coverage in local newspapers and on radio stations; meaning that residents in every UK council will know how much their local authority bosses are earning. Additionally, over 150,000 people have seen the report on social media.
As soon as lockdown is over, the TPA will be visiting towns and cities across the country to highlight these extravagant salaries and ensure council bosses are held to account.
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Despite the lockdown the government this week gave formal approval to proceed with High Speed 2 (HS2). As the TPA has stated repeatedly HS2 is a white elephant that will do little to level-up the country and the decision to proceed is incredibly disappointing. Given the current circumstances and looming recession, taxpayers simply cannot afford this £100+ billion project.
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As I have detailed before there is no economic case for HS2 and the TPA will continue to call for it to be scrapped. We will be urging the government to rein in costs and stop the budget spiralling further out of control.
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Town Hall Rich List coverage
Our research featured prominently in The Daily Telegraph as political correspondent Danielle Sheridan highlighted the top earners in her article. Asked for his comments, our chief executive John O'Connell said:
“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."
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On Thursday I was invited onto Mike Graham's talkRadio show to discuss our findings. I told Mike that many people will be angry at how much some under-performing council bosses earn. On the other hand we have seen more councils sharing chief executives in an effort to keep costs down for taxpayers. Click here to watch the interview.
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Civil servants wasted £15 million
As part of our War on Waste campaign we recently revealed that since 2014 Whitehall departments have spent £15,383,904 of taxpayers' money on environmentally damaging waste.
Freedom of information requests from last year reveal regular practices of unnecessarily using heating during the summer months, and taking taxis instead of more environmentally friendly forms of transport.
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The news was picked up The Sun and our researcher Darwin Friend told political editor David Wooding, "Taxpayers facing the highest tax burden in over half a century will think it’s deeply unfair for the government to be wasting their money on cabs and summer heating, when both seem completely out of kilter with the government’s headline net zero commitment."
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To help you while away the hours during lockdown we've got another bumper selection of blogs for you.
TPA local coordinator Ian Taylor has written an excellent rebuttal to calls for cigarette packet-style warnings on petrol and diesel pumps designed to highlight climate change. He argues that it would be far better to show motorists just how much tax they pay every time they visit the forecourt. Start your engines and read his piece in full.
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More than thirty council leaders have signed a letter calling on the government to subsidise council tax bills during the coronavirus pandemic. It's good to see they accept the strain that ever-rising bills place on many households. But our digital campaign manager Joe Ventre argues that instead of going cap-in-hand to the government, local authorities should put a stop to their wasteful spending. Click here to read more.
In February, the government launched a consultation on decriminalising the BBC licence fee which many of you responded to and I thank you for doing so. In their response the BBC brought up the idea that in the future the UK could follow other countries in transitioning the licence fee into some form of broadband tax. Unsurprisingly, we vehemently oppose any such tax. So put down the remote and our media campaign manager Sam Packer will explain why here.
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Going paperless
Following the lead of many high street banks, South Somerset District Council is phasing out paper council tax bills and going digital in a move which will save the council £50,000 a year. The council is encouraging residents to setup online accounts which allows bills to be paid without using post or telephone.
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It's refreshing to see a local authority making much needed modernisation to their operations. Online billing will be welcomed by many ratepayers and free up more funds for frontline services or maybe even tax cuts.
The TPA hopes councils across the UK will follow South Somerset's lead; they should embrace new technologies that can deliver the best value possible for taxpayers.
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Harry Fone
Grassroots Campaign Manager
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