The boss of Bracknell Forest Council is among the highest paid out of all Berkshire local authorities.
Research from the Taxpayer’s Alliance reveals chief executive of Bracknell Forest Council Susan Halliwell earned £204,000 in 2023/24.
This is £42,000 more than the chief executive at West Berkshire Council and more than £31,000 paid for the same job at Wokingham Borough Council.
Bracknell Forest Council: Chief Executive – £204,000
West Berkshire Council: Chief Executive £161,087
Wokingham Borough Council: Chief Executive £172,939
Reading Borough Council: Chief Executive £177,942
Windsor and Maidenhead: Chief Executive £177,080
Bracknell Forest Council’s pay policy statement says Ms Halliwell has 2,432 members of staff under indirect management responsibility, with the council serving around 126,800 residents in the area.
The statement says the chief executive role is ‘complex with ultimately responsibility for managing expenditure of £314 million of public funds’.
The chief executive works closely with elected councillors to deliver leadership, strategic direction, policy advice, partnerships and operational management.
Bracknell Forest Council pays other senior leadership members more than it’s counterparts, including its executive directors for resources, people and place.
These roles oversee large areas under council control including finances, adult and social care, town centres and planning.
Bracknell’s boss for resources Stuart McKellar earns £150,000 a year, compared to Wokingham Borough Council’s £119,549 a year and West Berkshire’s £130,399 a year.
While executive director for people at Bracknell earns £175,000, Windsor and Maidenhead’s role earns £135,200 and West Berkshire’s earns £135,970.
Slough Borough Council did not submit it’s salaries to the Taxpayer’s Alliance. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, their chief executive also works as a government-appointed managing director commissioner, and is paid £1,100 a day.
The chief executive at Bracknell Forest Council, along with the executive director for place, earns more than the Prime Minister, who takes home just over £172,000 a year.
Stuart McKellar, executive director for resources said: “The council’s senior salaries are set following sector benchmarking, undertaken by an external organisation.
“In addition, the chief executive pay grade was assessed prior to the last recruitment process in 2022, to reflect the current rate at the time.”
The Taxpayers’ alliance report says 3,906 council officials received more than £100,000 in 2023 to 2024.
Across the country, the number of staff receiving more than £200,000 has risen from 175 to 262 in the past year.
It comes as Bracknell Forest Council raised its council tax by 4.99 per cent this year.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s a record-breaking year in many respects for taxpayers as the country hurtles towards a record tax burden, all while the public sector continues to feather its nest.”
