Eight Nottingham City Council employees were paid over £100,000 during the last financial year. The highest amount went to chief executive Mel Barrett, who was paid £182,510.
The TaxPayers' Alliance recently published its annual 'town hall rich list', detailing all of the council employees across the country who were paid over £100,000. The figures relate to the last full financial year for which accounts have been filed, which runs from April 2021 to April 2022.
The report from the Alliance, a group which campaigns against increased taxation, said the authority with the most employees earning over £100,000 was Nottinghamshire County Council. Eight of its officials earned more than that amount, when taking pensions and expenses into account.
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Nottingham City Council was the only Nottinghamshire authority not to feature on the TaxPayers' Alliance list as it had not filed its accounts in time, with 47 others across the country also not doing so. But the council has now released its pay figures for the 2021/22 financial year, showing that it also had eight employees being paid over £100,000.
The city council's figures do not include pensions or expenses and are solely based on salary. They show that other officials being paid more than £100,000 included the corporate director for residents services, who was paid £152,250.
John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, previously said: "Taxpayers facing record council tax rises want to be sure they are getting value for money from their local authority leadership. Many authorities continue with extremely generous pay and perks, including bonuses and golden goodbyes, while local people are facing a financial squeeze."
But defending its own pay rates, a Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: "Large unitary authorities have a wide range of responsibilities beyond those of district and county councils and annual budgets in the hundreds of millions of pounds. Consequently we need high-calibre managers to steer a wide range of complex services – from care of the elderly and vulnerable children through to housing, public transport and many more.
"Senior manager and director-level pay in the private sector in similar-sized organisations is generally much higher than it is in councils. Nottingham City Council serves a large, fast-growing city, delivering public services to more than 320,000 people, as well as supporting businesses, attracting visitors and playing a key role in growing the local and regional economy."
Below are all the Nottingham City Council employees paid over £100,000 in 2021/22:
Chief Executive £182,510
Corporate Director Resident Services £152,250
Corporate Director for People £146,008
Corporate Director Growth and City Development £141,124
Director of Public Health £110,000
Director for Children's Integrated Services £113,680
Director for Adult Social Care and Health £104,996
Director of Legal and Governance £104,997
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