Rise in £100k pay deals for council chiefs

More than 3,000 senior council executives earned more than £100,000 in pay and perks last year, a study has found.

The Taxpayers' Alliance found that 3,097 town hall managers were awarded packages worth six-figure sums in 2010-11, a rise of 13 per cent on the previous year.

It also found 658 staff earned between £150,000 and £249,999, while 52 broke the £250,000 mark.

The Alliance admitted some of the packages included redundancy payments but insisted that did not "wholly account" for the increase in high payouts. Its chief executive, Matthew Elliott, said: "Taxpayers will be astonished that so many council employees are still getting such a generous deal while everyone else in the public sector is facing a pay freeze."

Separate figures released by the Local Government Association show that the pay of ordinary council staff has been cut by more than 5 per cent over the past year in England and Wales. The Unite union said: "Local government workers' jobs are being slashed while those left have their pay and pensions attacked."