The highest earners in Kirklees council, with 20 bosses, are entitled to £100,000 or more

Kirklees Council bosses are set for six-figure salaries as the local authority has published its Pay Policy Statement for 2024/25.

The remuneration policy sets out the salaries of council staff and is primarily concerned with those of the most senior officers. The report will be discussed by the council’s Personnel Committee next week and will then need the approval of the Full Council.

Chief executive Steve Mawson is the top earner, with an annual salary of £166,866, according to the report. This is just over £20,000 less than former Kirklees Council chief executive Jacqui Gedman, who was paid £187,087 a year.

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Up to 20 officers, including the chief executive, are entitled to a salary of £100,000 or more, with 15 staff in a pay bracket between £95,000 and £111,999 and another four eligible between £130,000 and £145,999.

The report explains that Mr Mawson’s salary is 5.8 times the average salary of council staff (excluding schools or other external organisations), which stands at £28,770. The ratio between the two salaries is 5.8:1 and this is called the “pay multiple”.

Although the council does not have a policy on maintaining a specific pay multiple, the local authority says it is “aware of the need to ensure that the salary of the highest paid employee is not excessive and is consistent with the needs of the authority. “

The report continues: “The authority’s approach to paying other staff is to pay what the authority needs to pay to recruit and retain staff with the skills, knowledge, experience, abilities and qualities required for the post in question at the relevant level. time…”

The lowest wage received by Kirklees Council staff is £11.59 an hour. This is slightly above the national living wage, which rose to £11.44 in April.

The full council will have to consider any new recruitment for roles with salaries of £100,000 or more.

Earlier in the year, the pressure group, the TaxPayer’s Alliance, published its annual Mayor’s Rich List. It showed that council employees across the country on salaries of £100,000 or more in the 2022/23 financial year, and twenty Kirklees employees made the list.

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