Town hall ‘Rich List’ reveals the six-figure pay packets of Wigan’s council officials

The report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group gave the names and job titles – where known – of people at every UK local authority who received six-figure remuneration packages.

The salaries were revealed against a backdrop of stretched budgets and struggling services, with many councils raising council tax by the maximum allowed. In Wigan’s case, an increase of 4.99 per cent was agreed for this financial year.

The names and job titles of only eight out of of the 19 senior officers at Wigan who were paid in excess of £100k were revealed by the authority, with four receiving a salary of more than £150k. The latter makes them part of an elite group of only 829 such council executives in the whole of the UK.

The list was headed by the chief executive, Alison McKenzie-Folan, who received £193,404 in the financial year 2022-23.

The other named officers were: Deputy chief executive (director of resources and contracts) Paul McKevitt: £153,832

Director of children's services Colette Dutton: £153,832

Director of adult social care and health Stuart Cowley: £152,344

Director of transformation Sonia Halliwell: £132,130

Director of economy and skills Aiden Thatcher: £132,130

Director of environment Paul Barton: £132,130

Director of strategy and innovation James Winterbottom: £132,130

The other 11 names were all given as “undisclosed” – where the council has not made the name available in their reporting – but their salaries ranged from £167,500 (making them the second highest paid person at the authority, although it’s understood this individual no longer works there) to £102,500.

The data is based on the latest full financial year (2022-23) accounts available from councils.

Local authorities in England and Wales are only required to provide names for those with a salary of £150,000 or more, however Wigan Council for transparency discloses the names and salaries of senior management, via its Pay Policy statement.

The overall list compiled by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) showed the number of town hall bosses receiving more than £100,000 in 2022-23 in the UK stood at 3,106, the second highest on record.

TPA chief executive John O’Connell said: "The new financial year has seen council tax soar across the country, and taxpayers will notice that top brass pay has simultaneously surged.

"Local authorities provide crucial services and residents will want to make sure they are getting bang for their buck with their ever-increasing bills.

"Residents can use these figures to ask whether precious funds are really going towards frontline services, or whether town hall bosses can get better value for money.”

Wigan Council declined to comment on the report.

The town will get around £25million from Westminster in its finance settlement to help support a 7.5 per cent hike in its core spending power for 2024/25 to £271m.

Ahead of the budget setting council meeting last month, council leader Coun David Molyneux said that central Government had forced Wigan, along with many other councils across the country, into raising their council tax by the maximum allowed without a local referendum.

Without the council tax increase, Wigan would have been facing a £10m hole in its finances. With it, that deficit comes down to £2.5m with that cash already saved because of ‘efficiencies’ targeted a year ago.