Councils dish out £63m in bonuses
Updated on 06 April 2009
More4 News obtains detailed figures on how much different councils paid in bonuses, by using the Freedom of Information Act.
Local authorities spent more than £60m on bonuses for staff last year, with recipients ranging from electricians to executives.
Harry Anscombe has this special report.
Local councils around the UK paid more than £63m in bonuses last year, as More4 News investigation shows.
One hundred councils confirmed they paid bonuses in 2007/08, with electricians, gardeners and bin men receiving bonuses alongside council managers.
Among the manual workers who received bonuses, one electrician was paid over £25,000 by Derby City Council, Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire paid one employee over £22,000 while Sefton Council paid nearly £21,000 to a senior lighting operative.
To see the top 20 individual bonuses paid, click here.
To see the top 20 total bonuses paid by individual councils, click here.
To see the full list of 100 councils that paid bonuses, click here (.xls).
The manager who received the highest bonus was Peter Rogers, Chief Executive at Westminster City Council, who received £40,000 - £45,000.
Birmingham City Council paid out £9,652,753 in bonuses - the highest of the 100 councils. Kirklees paid the second largest amount at £5,123,216.46 and Westminster City Council paid £4,992,285.
More4 News surveyed 325 council under the Freedom of Information act, and received 280 replies.
Top 20 individual bonuses paid:
- Westminster City Council: £40,000 - £45,000 to CEO Peter Rogers.
- Lambeth Council: £27,357 to former executive Mr E Bohl.
- Birmingham City Council: £26,143.68 for works in the highways division.
- Bristol City Council: £26,123.66 to council employee.
- Derby City Council: £25,308.81 to an electrician.
- Kensington & Chelsea: £25,000 to Derek Myers, the town clerk and chief executive.
- Mid Sussex council: £24,000 to CEO John Jory.
- Cannock Chase District Council: £22,467.43 for carpenter/multi-skilled in the housing maintenance.
- Kirklees Council: £22,154.38 to an operative within building services department.
- Sefton Council: £20,833.27 to a senior lighting operative.
- Falkirk Council: £19,251 to building trades people.
- Swindon Borough Council: £16,762 to CEO Gavin Jones.
- Bexley London Borough Council: £14,000 to each of the director of environment and regeneration services and the director of children's and young people's services.
- East Ayrshire Council: £13, 402 but did not specify recipient.
- Walsall Metropolitan Council: £13,255.64 to an unspecified manual worker.
- Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council: £12,640.20 to four refuse drivers and three refuse loaders.
- Taunton Deane District Council: £11,747.50 to the strategic director.
- North Lanarkshire Council: £11,435.10 to CEO Gavin Whitefield.
- Gwynedd County Council: £11,367 but did not specify recipient.
- Erewash Borough Council: £11,071.50 to the senior building control officer.
Top 20 total bonus payment by council:
- Birmingham City Council: £9,652,753
- Kirklees Council: £5,123,216.46
- Westminster City Council: £4,992,285
- Falkirk Council: £3,400,000
- Bradford Metropolitan District Council: £3,260,307
- West Lothian Council: £2,951,520.52
- Highlands Council: £2,867,000
- Sandwell Metropolitan Borough: £2,388,259.26
- Bristol City Council: £1,997,001.46
- East Ayrshire Council: £1,990,371.60
- Carmarthenshire County Council: £1,865,000
- Stirling Council: £ 1,797,860.23
- Kensington and Chelsea Council: £1,749,293
- Stoke on Trent City Council: £1,627,368
- Gwynedd County Council: £1,611,304.36
- Sheffield City Council: £1,559,266
- Plymouth City Council: £1,500,000
- Salford City Council: £1,456,500
- York: £1,451,281
- Monmouthshire County Council: £1,010,454.52
More4 News' findings were published in the Sunday Times.
