Want to earn more than the MP? Become a town hall top boss

By Robert Frith, Local Democracy Reoprter

A departed South London council boss was paid £60,000 more than Prime Minister Boris Johnson last year.

Recently retired Southwark council chief executive Eleanor Kelly was handed a paycheque of £217,687 in 2021.

Mr Johnson took home just £157,372 in the same year from his job as PM and MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

Ms Kelly took early retirement earlier this year after a decade in the top job.

The town hall has delayed publishing its 2022 accounts due to “resourcing challenges.”

Ms Kelly’s replacement, Althea Loderick, received £242,000 from her previous role as head of Newham council last year.

Lambeth’s council’s recently departed chief executive Andrew Travers received a paycheque of £185,000 in 2020/21 – £27,628 more than the PM.

The average UK worker took home £611 per week as of April 2021 – or the equivalent of £31,772 per year.

Mr Travers’s successor Bayo Dosunmu will rake in an annual salary of £171,366 from the role.

Lewisham’s Kim Wright, who was appointed to the top job at the council in 2019, is paid a yearly wage of £184,950.