RESEARCH has revealed at ten members of staff at Bradford Council were paid more than £100,000 during the 2019-2020 financial year, above the national average.

The figures, compiled by the Taxpayers’ Alliance, show eight members of staff have a salary of more than £100,000, and when pension contributions are factored in ten staff had a total remuneration of more than £100,000.

Bradford Council said the pay is in line with levels across the sector and it’s staff receive less than senior roles in the private sector.

Top paid at Bradford Council is the authority’s chief executive Kersten England, who received a salary of £189,419 and pension contribution of £33,148, for a total remuneration of £222,567.

Ms England is the second highest paid chief executive in Yorkshire and Humber, behind only Mary Weastell of City of York Council.

Strategic Director for Corporate Resources Joanna Hyde is next on the list with a salary of £146,113, and a total remuneration of £171,683.

Next on the list are fellow Strategic Directors, for Place Jason Longhurst, and Health and Wellbeing Iain MacBeath, who are both paid £142,176 and have a total remuneration of £167,057.

Mark Douglas, strategic director for children’s services, is next with a salary of £103,622 and a total payment of £121,756.

City solicitor Parveen Akhtar, director of human resources Anne Lloyd, and director of West Yorkshire Pension Fund Rodney Barton are next, all with salaries of £102,287 and total remuneration of £120,187.

Director of Public Health Sarah Muckle’s salary of £98,497 is under the £100k mark, but pension contributions of £14,164 take her over that threshold.

It is the same for assistant director in the office of the chief executive, where the base salary is £87,513 but pension contributions take the total amount to £102,828.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance has compiled the list every year since 2007

It points that this is against a backdrop where in Bradford councillors voted in February to increase Council Tax by 4.99 per cent and to give staff a two per cent pay increase, while across the country Council Tax has risen by 4.4 per cent on average.

Bradford also has a higher than average number of staff being paid more than £100,000, with the national average standing at seven but for Bradford it is ten.

However no one in Bradford comes close to the most remunerated council employee in the country. The deputy chief executive of Coventry City Council, who received more than half a million pounds in 2019-20.

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: “The salaries the Council pays to its senior staff are in line with the rate such staff are paid across the sector, they earn less than senior level posts in other sectors.

“Yet, the responsibility they hold is huge, particularly at times like this when local government have been at the frontline of supporting communities and businesses throughout the pandemic and working closely with our NHS organisations through times of increased demand.

“Bradford is the fifth largest metropolitan district council in the country with a gross budget of more than £1 billion and a workforce of more than 8,000 staff delivering vital public services to more than half a million residents and 17,000 businesses.”