London council 'rich list' reveals 91 staff are paid more than David Cameron

More than 600 council staff in London are paid over £100,000 a year in some of the country's most generous public sector pay deals.

A town hall rich list compiled for the Standard showed that 91 received more than the Prime Minister's salary of £142,500. Of these at least 17 staff took home more than £200,000, not including pensions.

Almost 15,000 employees in the capital were paid more than £50,000, about double the national average wage. The number of council staff paid over £100,000 - up 66 from 556 in 2008/09 to 622 last year - represents about a quarter of the national total.

A separate report by the Taxpayers' Alliance found that 2,300 town hall employees nationwide received more than £100,000, a rise of 18 per cent on the previous year.

Both sets of figures include teachers' pay which is set centrally.

The Standard's figures show the biggest earners in 2009/10 were council chief executives.

The salary of Gerald Jones, the former Wandsworth boss, was the highest in the country, at £355,000 including his pension. Wandsworth said the payment was to recognise his 25 years of service. Mr Jones has since retired, replaced by Paul Martin on £180,000.

He was followed by Newham's Joe Duckworth, who earned £281,085 including pension. He has since resigned and was replaced by Kim Bromley-Derry, earning £195,000.

Third was Lambeth's Derrick Anderson, who was paid £269,836. The borough said the sum was due to a "one-off payment" to top up his basic salary of £213,630 and that senior staff salaries had been frozen since 2008/09.

The best-paid town hall official, other than a chief executive, was Haringey's Peter Lewis, director of children and young people's services, whose total annual pay was more than £280,000.

Second was Chris Buss, director of finance at Wandsworth and deputy chief executive of the council, on £252,000 including pension.
He was followed by Mark Elms, head teacher of Tidemill School in Deptford, who earned nearly £250,000 last year, including pension. Lewisham said his basic salary last year was £82,714, plus payments from the Government's "extra responsibilities" fund.

A spokesman for London Councils said local authorities had to offer competitive salaries to attract the best candidates to run a range of services relied on by all members of society.