Glasgow council bosses making more than £100k every year

The annual Town Hall Rich List, which shows how much local government executives get paid, has been published for 2022.

The top earner in Glasgow is the council’s chief executive, Annemarie O’Donnell, who made £186,860 last year.

Peter Duthie, the chief executive of the Scottish Events Campus, brought in £184,861, while Dr Graham Paterson, executive director (until March 12, 2021) of City Building (Contracts), made £165,070.

While the list states that 17 council workers are making more than £100k in salary, Glasgow council says five of these do not work for the council, and that just five people directly employed by the council have a salary above £100k.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the number of council staff in the UK receiving more than £100,000 had increased by 119 to at least 2,921 people, the most since 2013-14.

739 of these received over £150,000, 46 more than the previous year and the highest number since the TaxPayers’ Alliance began releasing the Rich List. Of the ten local authorities with the most employees receiving over £100,000, eight of them were London councils.

The former chief executive of Croydon council, Jo Negrini, received the highest remuneration of any council employee in the country at £613,895. This is despite the council effectively declaring bankruptcy in November 2020. Negrini left the council in September 2020, and received a loss of office payment of £144,356 and a pension strain payment of £292,851.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance is calling on local authorities to stop rises and cut down on wasteful spending by scrapping pet projects and unnecessary pay rises for town hall bosses.