• Damning audit today reveals 539 council staff took home at least £150,000 
• TaxPayers’ Alliance report found 2,314 council employees were on £100k plus
• Revelations come as millions of families face big increases in their council tax

The number of town hall bosses paid more than the Prime Minister has soared – as households are hit by huge council tax rises.

A damning audit today reveals 539 council staff took home at least £150,000 in pay and other benefits in 2015/16.

This was 53 more than the year before – a rise of 11 per cent.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance report also found 2,314 council employees were on £100,000 or more – up 89 on the previous year. The revelations come as millions of families face big increases in their council tax bills, purportedly to help meet the funding crisis in social care.

Last night critics asked why councils were not curbing ‘frivolous’ executive salaries rather than cutting frontline services or putting up household bills. Lib Dem communities spokesman Baroness Pinnock said: ‘Some of these pay rises are absolutely shameless.’

Ministers last night repeated a demand that town halls should think twice about imposing ‘excessive pay rises’ when public finances are under such pressure.

In 2015, a Daily Mail investigation exposed the scale of fat cat council pay, but it appears little has changed.

Today’s study found the highest-paid official was Dave Smith, who left as Sunderland chief executive weeks after a damning Ofsted report. He took home £625,570 in 2015/16.

The research ranked officials on their total remuneration packages, including pension contributions. The figures include pay-offs to people who were made redundant or did not leave voluntarily. They often receive hundreds of thousands in extra employers’ pension contributions to make up for the amount they would have received had they not lost their job.

A total of 539 took home more than £150,000. Theresa May earns £150,420 a year. There were 68 councils with at least ten staff getting more than £100,000.

Several of the highest-paid walked into new jobs months after huge pay-offs. John van de Laarschot was made redundant as Stoke-on-Trent chief in 2015, with a leaving package of more than £350,000. Seven months later he became chief executive of Nottingham College.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance said its figure of 2,314 for the total receiving more than £100,000 was ‘likely to be an understatement’ because of disparities in the way councils present data.

The campaign group’s John O’Connell said: ‘The average council tax bill has gone up by more than £900 over the last 20 years and spending has gone through the roof.

‘Disappointingly, many local authorities are responding through further tax rises and reducing services … There are talented people in the public sector who are trying to deliver more for less, but the sheer scale of these packages raises serious questions about efficiency and priorities.’

THE BOSS WHO RAKED IN £625K IN A YEAR

Dave Smith left his lucrative job heading up Sunderland council just weeks after a damning Ofsted report branded its children’s services ‘inadequate’.

When he was asked to leave as chief executive in August 2015, he was earning £175,000. 

But the amount he was paid in 2015/16 was far higher – £625,570, because it also included a large pay-off and pension contributions, paid for by the taxpayer as he did not leave voluntarily.

It was the highest amount any local authority employee received that year.

The huge pay-off came despite Ofsted’s report published the month before he left, in which inspectors found ‘serious and widespread’ failings. They drew attention to ‘poor leadership at all levels’.

Dr Smith now works as a consultant for the firm Promodo, offering ‘strategic support and advice’ to the public sector, including the Sheffield city region and East Ayrshire council.

Campaigners said it was ‘shocking’ so much was spent on him when Sunderland council was slashing basic services such as street cleaning.

Dr Smith’s payout was made up of £108,686 salary for the part of the year he worked, £185,470 in compensation for loss of office, and £331,414 in employer pension contributions. The last figure was so high because he was on a defined benefit pension scheme and was forced out of his job many years before he was expecting.

Had he not lost his job, he would have expected Sunderland to have paid his contributions right up until his retirement age at 65.

As part of his agreeing to leave without a fuss, the council paid both the employer and the employee pension contribution for the period up to his retirement age.

Dr Smith was joined by several Sunderland colleagues on the study’s list.

A spokesman for the local authority said: ‘These figures reflect the terms and conditions for eight senior employees no longer employed by the council … They include payments to the pension fund to reflect payments in the future.’ 

At least a third of town halls put up council tax bills by the maximum 5 per cent this month – the equivalent of an extra £80 for the average household. Many are also planning to raise fees such as parking charges. Baroness Pinnock said: ‘These people are costing taxpayers’ hundreds of thousands of pounds each.

‘The size of the pay rises being shown here suggests a frivolous approach to budgeting. You have to question the thinking behind these excesses.’ Claire Kober, of the Local Government Association, said councils were ‘committed to providing value for money’.

She added that senior pay is set by ‘elected councillors and is open to a high level of scrutiny and democratic accountability as a result’. A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said it was a matter for local authorities but that ministers expect councils to show ‘restraint from excessive pay rises’.