The Peterborough City Council staff earning more than Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Figures show that some of the highest-earning staff members at Peterborough City Council are paid more than the UK Prime Minister as the authority faces a budget crisis.

The council says it would “fail to attract good quality staff” if it did not pay the salaries that it does.

Peterborough City Council currently faces a £23 million gap in its budget, but is hoping to balance the books in the next three years via a series of cuts to services and increase in charges.

A consultation was launched on December 17 asking residents for their views on the proposals and closed on Tuesday, January 14.

Among the most controversial proposals was the potential ‘mothballing’ of the Lido in order to save £400,000 a year, which caused outrage among residents and local politicians – but this proposal has since been changed meaning the Lido is no longer at risk this year.

The council has proposed to close seven out of the 10 libraries in the city, which it claims will save £314,000 a year, as well as hiking council tax by 4.99%.

Also among the proposals is council staffing reductions and changes across corporate services in areas including: health and safety, financial services, people and development, internal audit, communications, and the register office. It is hoped these staffing reductions and changes will save the authority £293,000 a year.

The top earning staff members in the council’s corporate leadership team earn well north of £100,000, including the chief executive who takes home between £195,000 and £199,999 a year.

The Prime Minister is thought to earn around £160,000 per year.

The top earning council staff

See below for a list of the top 10 highest-earning council staff (name, role, pay band):

Matthew Gladstone, chief executive – £195,000 to £199,999

Cecilie Booth, executive director of corporate services – £175,000 to £179,999

Stephen Taylor, executive director adult services (DASS) – £160,000 to £164,999

John Gregg, executive director children and young people – £160,000 to £164,999

Adrian Chapman, executive director place and economy – £155,000 to £159,999

Assistant director adults and safeguarding – £120,000 to £124,999

Service director commissioning – £115,000 to £119,999

SD people operations BI and transformation – £110,000 to £114,999

Service director corporate finance s151 – £110,000 to £114,999

Service director housing and communities – £110,000 to £114,999

(Source: Cambridgshire and Peterborough Insight)

“If the council did not pay the salaries it does then it would fail to attract good quality staff to lead these services.”

Councillor Mohammed Jamil, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and corporate services at Peterborough City Council, said: “The salaries that we pay all our officers, including the most senior, are consistent with other councils. In addition, we seek advice from the Hay Group’s independent evaluation scheme to ensure senior officer salaries are fair.

“In the past few years the council has also moved towards a smaller corporate leadership team, thereby reducing the number of officers on higher salaries. We also regularly review our senior officer structure to ensure that it provides value for money while overseeing the delivery of council services to our residents.

“Senior managers are responsible for delivering services for over 200,000 residents and are accountable for a gross budget of £509m. They lead on supporting the most vulnerable in our city, keeping the city moving day to day, and on how we can improve the city and the opportunities available for everyone.

“If the council did not pay the salaries it does then it would fail to attract good quality staff to lead these services.”