The TaxPayers’ Alliance Town Hall Rich List has for the past few years not included details for Croydon. Our borough is one of 15 which the TPA has listed where “No accounts have been published”.
Thanks to some assistance we have however been able to find details of the roles at Croydon Council paying over £100,000. Of the 26 roles we have been able to tie 24 to a current or previous role holder. Since these have not been directly published by the council we are reluctant to publish here but they do give a good indication of these being filled roles.
Exact salaries are not given for most roles but instead a salary range is used. Where this is the case we’ve extrapolated the mid-point of the range:
| Role | Salary Range | Mid-Point or as stated |
| Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service | £204,190 | £204,190 |
| Corporate Director, Adult Social Care and Health (DASS & Caldicott Guardian)* | £154,909 – £164,151 | £159,530 |
| Corporate Director, Children, Young People and Education (DCS)* This post has a Special Occupational Scarcity Allowance of £10,849. The total salary including this allowance is £175,000 | £154,909 – £164,151 | £159,530 |
| Corporate Director, Housing** This post has a market supplement of £5,453. The total salary including market supplement is £169,604. | £154,909 – £164,151 | £169,604 |
| Corporate Director, Sustainable Communities, Regeneration and Economic Recovery** This post has a market supplement of £7,452.79 The total salary including market supplement is £171,603.79 | £154,909 – £164,151 | £171,604 |
| Corporate Director, Resources (S151 Officer)* This post has a market supplement of £10,662. The total salary including market supplement is £174,813 | £154,909 – £164,151 | £174,813 |
| Assistant Chief Executive** | £147,140 – £153,002 | £150,071 |
| Director of Public Health* | £125,873 – £130,876 | £128,375 |
| Chief Digital Officer | £125,873 – £130,876 | £128,375 |
| Director of Adult Social Care Operations (Deputy DASS) | £125,873 – £130,876 | £128,375 |
| Director of Children’s Social Care | £125,873 – £130,876 | £128,375 |
| Director of Planning & Sustainable Regeneration | £125,873 – £130,876 | £128,375 |
| Chief People Officer This post has a market supplement of £8,731. The total salary including market supplement is £128,295. | £115,000 – £119,564 | £128,295 |
| Director of Legal Services & Monitoring Officer | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Adult Social Care Commissioning, Policy & Improvement | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Education | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Quality Commissioning & Performance Improvement | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Streets and Environment | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Housing Management | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Housing – Estates & Improvement | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Housing Homelessness Prevention and Accommodation | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Finance (Deputy Section 151 Officer) | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Commercial Investment | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Culture & Community Safety | £115,000 – £119,564 | £117,282 |
| Director of Policy, Programmes & Performance | £104,322 – £108,466 | £106,394 |
| Director of Transformation This post has a market supplement of £17,180. The total salary including market supplement is £125,646. | £104,322 – £108,466 | £106,394 |
| Total | £3,462,399 |
We have data from 2018 on the number of Staff paid over £100,000 at Croydon Council. 2022 was an anomalous year due to a large turnover of staff. What we have seen is despite Croydon Council declaring de facto bankruptcy and a new administration we have seen a continued rise in the number of staff earning over £100K. There are clearly several important functions performed by Croydon Council, and senior roles should be paid to reflect that. However, this is a council that has issued 3 Section 114 notices and imposed a 15% Council tax increase only a few years ago. It appears little has changed to reduce costs at the top of the council.
| Year | Staff Earning over £100,000 |
| 2018 | 20 |
| 2019 | 19 |
| 2020 | 23 |
| 2021 | 19 |
| 2022 | 29 |
| 2023 | No data |
| 2024 | No data |
| 2025 | 26 |
Opaque Payments
Good people can differ on what expenses a Council should spend council tax payers hard earn income on. But surely, we should all agree a council with the financial difficulties that Croydon has faced and passed on to the people of the borough, should not be undertaking unnecessary expenditure.
Since we last reviewed payments over £500, Croydon Council has continued to provide limited information to the people of the borough. The ‘Cultural Growth Fund’ in Croydon has paid out another £87,803.03 in the period of May-July 2025. Of this £33,301.50 or 38% is redacted, and the ‘bankrupt’ council isn’t informing taxpayers where the funds went. This brings total ‘Culture Growth Fund’ spending in the year to £191,683.35, 31.6% of which has redacted payees. This is a small amount in the overall council budget, but one has to wonder why a ‘bankrupt’ council continues with unnecessary and often hidden expenditure.
A further example of this is the £5,175.70 paid out for Croydon being the 2023 ‘BOROUGH OF CULTURE’, Yes you read that right, this is part of the now £8,491.70 paid in 2025 for something that finished in March 2024. With the Commissioners coming into Croydon, taxpayers can only hope they gain control of Croydon’s unnecessary expenditure.
Culture Growth Fund April – July 2025
| Payment Date | Vendor Name | Amount |
| 02-Apr-25 | Redacted | £2,000.00 |
| 02-Apr-25 | Substrakt Limited | £4,250.00 |
| 02-Apr-25 | WIGGLE WONDERLAND COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY | £11,125.00 |
| 09-Apr-25 | WIGGLE WONDERLAND COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY | £985.14 |
| 09-Apr-25 | OCS Group UK Limited | £1,105.92 |
| 15-Apr-25 | Mobius Industries Ltd | £1,785.00 |
| 17-Apr-25 | Redacted | £1,410.00 |
| 17-Apr-25 | Redacted | £1,425.00 |
| 22-Apr-25 | Clocktower Cafe Ltd | £575.00 |
| 29-Apr-25 | Headline Security Limited | £2,139.70 |
| 29-Apr-25 | Redacted | £2,500.00 |
| 29-Apr-25 | Redacted | £5,600.00 |
| 09-May-25 | Jen Kavanagh Ltd | £1,050.00 |
| 21-May-25 | Redacted | £962.50 |
| 27-May-25 | Redacted | £1,144.00 |
| 27-May-25 | Redacted | £650.00 |
| 28-May-25 | Redacted | £2,700.00 |
| 03-Jun-25 | OCS Group UK Limited | £14,346.64 |
| 03-Jun-25 | The Ramblers Association | £1,000.00 |
| 04-Jun-25 | Redacted | £1,050.00 |
| 04-Jun-25 | REcreate Agency Limited | £2,500.00 |
| 09-Jun-25 | Browne Jacobson LLP_ | £2,515.80 |
| 25-Jun-25 | Substrakt Limited | £4,250.00 |
| 27-Jun-25 | Headline Security Limited | £543.75 |
| 30-Jun-25 | Jen Kavanagh Ltd | £2,100.00 |
| 02-Jul-25 | Redacted | £2,920.00 |
| 09-Jul-25 | Redacted | £2,000.00 |
| 11-Jul-25 | Layla El-Deeb | £1,400.00 |
| 17-Jul-25 | OCS Group UK Limited | £744.58 |
| 22-Jul-25 | Redacted | £1,750.00 |
| 22-Jul-25 | Redacted | £530.00 |
| 23-Jul-25 | Redacted | £2,910.00 |
| 23-Jul-25 | Fool’s Paradise Ltd | £2,085.00 |
| 30-Jul-25 | Redacted | £3,750.00 |
BOROUGH OF CULTURE April – July 2025
| Payment Date | Vendor Name | Amount |
| 17-Apr-25 | Redacted | £1,316.00 |
| 02-Jun-25 | Bishops Printers Limited T/A The Graphic Design House | £1,560.00 |
| 17-Jul-25 | OCS Group UK Limited | £2,299.70 |
Good work may well have been done for all of these payments. The question remains why was it commissioned in the first place?