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Top Paid Civil Servants Revealed

The government has published a list of civil servants who earn more than the Prime Minister (reported as being £142,500 per year). Here is the actual list of 172 civil servants who earn more than the Prime Minister, in CSV format.

The list is comprised only of civil servants who agreed to appear on the list, and there were 11 people who refused. It's pretty clear, though, that this list is very far from complete.

There's not a single council worker on the list, and yet there must be a few that qualify - Kim Ryley, the Chief Exec of Hull City Council, was reported to be earning in excess of £200,000 back in July 2009. That would make him roughly the 7th highest paid civil servant on the list if he were added, placing him ahead of of the likes of Sir David Normington (Permanent Secretary for the Home Office) and Sir Nigel Sheinwald (Ambassador to Washington).

It seems unlikely that Hull is the only council paying out hefty sums for their top brass - and this Guardian article from January 2010 mentions that both Cornwall County Council and Northamptonshire County Council pay their Chief Executives similar wages. The same article quotes a Northamtonshire County Council spokesperson as saying "Our chief executive... earns a little bit more than the prime minister, but, like the BBC, you do have to attract the talent."

The Daily Mail points out that the 172 named officials together earn over £29M per year.

If these 172 officials were all sacked and their wages redistributed to other public sector workers, those lucky workers would all receive a rise of about £5 per year.

Interestingly, as mentioned in a previous posting, the Prime Minister's salary was previously reported as being £132,923 for 2009, plus an MP salary of £64,766 - or £197,689 in total. The current Wikipedia article (and various contemporary news reports) now cite the Prime Minister's salary as being £142,500, a 7% increase on the 2009 figure.

Links

Hull City Council CE Pay
Mark Thompson sparks new BBC row with county council comment
Cabinet Office index [source for 172 high-pay civil servants list]
New Statesmen article on the above
Guardian article on the above
Fair Pay national view