Cornwall Council defends £100k wage for 25 staff

Cornwall Council is paying 25 of its employees more than £100,000 a year each, research by the TaxPayers Alliance shows.

The list of high-earners includes chief executive, some officers and the chief fire officer at Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service.

The TaxPayers Alliance, a right-of-centre press group, said transparency around wages was important at a time when authorities were cutting services and increasing people's bills.

Cornwall Council said it was one of the country's biggest authorities, with more than 5,000 members of staff, and pay reflected the need to attract high-calibre staff to "complex services" such as social care for children and adults.

The list, based on salaries from 2024-25, looked at staff rather than elected councillors, with the highest earner being chief executive Kate Kennally, who earned £201,661.

Across the South West, employees paid over £100,000 rose from 280 in 2023-24 to 299 in 2024-25, according to the TaxPayers Alliance.

Nationally, a record 4,733 council employees received more than £100,000 in 2024-25, the 20th edition of the TaxPayers' Alliance Rich List shows.

The number of staff receiving over £150,000 had also hit a record high of 1,255, it said.

Alliance chief executive John O'Connell said: "Taxpayers are caught in a pincer movement with a record-breaking tax burden on one side and a bloated public sector feathering its nest on the other."

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