The TaxPayers’ Alliance has recently published their 20th Town Hall Rich List. This list compiles data on all local authority employee’s receiving over £100,000 in total remuneration.
The research is extensive with a summary available at https://taxpayersalliance.com/town-hall-rich-list-2026/, and full details at https://taxpayersalliance.com/content/files/2026/04/Town-Hall-Rich-List-2026-1.pdf. The full dataset is also available from https://taxpayersalliance.com/content/files/2026/04/Town-Hall-Rich-List-2026.xlsx.
“The prime minister had a salary entitlement of £172,153 in 2024. There were 320 council employees who received a higher salary than this in 2024-25”
Some of the Key findings include:
- There were at least 4,733 local authority employees receiving £100,000 or more in total remuneration in 2024-25.
- 1,255 local authority employees had total remuneration of at least £150,000 in 2024-25.
- The prime minister had a salary entitlement of £172,153 in 2024. There were 320 council employees who received a higher salary than this in 2024-25, a third more than in 2023-24.
- The highest remunerated individual in 2024-25 was an individual from Staffordshire council who received £457,500. The name and job title of this individual were not provided.
Over 20 years £100,000 no longer has the same worth as it once did, and the median annual gross earnings for full-time employees in the UK is now over £39,000 per year. However, it is also worth noting that earning over £100,000 puts you in the top 4% of UK earners.
“Continuing a theme of not disclosing data, details of 14 of the 21 roles have not been disclosed. Croydon Council has still not fully disclosed data on spending over £500 from 2025”
Remuneration in Croydon
After 3 years of failing to publish data on earnings over £100,000, Croydon Council has now made the data available, although I can’t find this available on their website. Continuing a theme of not disclosing data, details of 14 of the 21 roles have not been disclosed. Croydon Council has still not fully disclosed data on spending over £500 from 2025 and has published no data since January this year. You might think going bankrupt 3 times, having the commissionaires in, and increasing council tax by a third over 4 years might be a reason to be more transparent with residents, but it’s clear Croydon Council doesn’t.
The 21 roles paying over £100,000 are as follows:
| Name | Job title | Salary | Pension | Total |
| Katherine Kerswell | Chief executive | £219,890 | £3,948 | £223,838 |
| Susmita Sen | Corporate director of housing | £169,604 | £39,348 | £208,952 |
| Annette McPartland | Corporate director adult social care and health | £164,151 | £38,083 | £202,234 |
| Elaine Jackson | Interim assistant chief executive | £153,002 | £36,514 | £189,516 |
| Jane West | Corporate director of resources and s151 officer | £174,813 | £174,813 | |
| Debbie Jones | Interim executive director of children’s, young people and education | £164,151 | £164,151 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £162,500 | £162,500 | |
| Nicholas Hibberd | Corporate director of sustainable communities, regeneration and economic recovery | £125,320 | £29,074 | £154,394 |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £142,500 | £142,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £132,500 | £132,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £132,500 | £132,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £132,500 | £132,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £132,500 | £132,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £117,500 | £117,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £117,500 | £117,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £117,500 | £117,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £117,500 | £117,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £117,500 | £117,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £117,500 | £117,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £117,500 | £117,500 | |
| Undisclosed | Undisclosed | £107,500 | £107,500 |
This compares to recent years as below:
| Year | Number over 100K | Number earning more than PM | Total remuneration of those over £100K | |
| 2018 | 20 | 3 | £2,502,504 | |
| 2019 | 19 | 2 | £2,514,415 | |
| 2020 | 23 | 3 | £3,123,268 | |
| 2021 | 19 | 2 | £2,754,821 | |
| 2022 | 29 | 2 | £4,286,372 | |
| 2023 | No data | No data | No data | |
| 2024 | No data | No data | No data | |
| 2025 | 26 | 2 | £3,462,399 | Extrapolated data from partial publishing by Croydon Council |
| 2026 | 21 | 5 | £2,935,931 |
No doubt this is a reduction over most years we have data for and total remuneration is down. We haven’t however seen any of the radical changes one might expect from a council 3 time bankrupt, and we still see a distain for transparency from a council adding increasing burdens on the people it exists to serve.
“You might think… increasing council tax by a third over 4 years might be a reason to be more transparent with residents, but it’s clear Croydon Council doesn’t”