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Jan
Big increase in number of council salaries above £100,000
The number of North Yorkshire Council staff on salaries above £100,000 looks set to increase from 26 to 32 in April.
The expected increase in top earners comes at a time when the local authority is drawing up plans to increase council tax by the maximum amount and save £52 million over the next three years.
The figures are contained in a report on pay policy for senior managers prepared for a meeting of the council’s ruling Conservative executive on Tuesday next week (February 4). You can read the report here. An appendix, listing details of individual pay awards over £100,000, is available here.
Chief executive Richard Flinton will be the highest paid on £211,044 in 2025/26 following a 2.5% staff increase.
Mr Flinton’s salary went up from £198,935 to £205,897 this year, which means he will have enjoyed an increase of more than £12,000 over two years.
The next most senior staff, corporate directors Gary Fielding, Stuart Carlton. Richard Webb, Karl Battersby and Nic Harne, will see their pay go up from £155,296 to £159,178.
(from left): Stuart Carlton, Karl Battersby and Stuart Webb are among the corporate directors whose salaries will rise to £159,178.
Assistant chief executive Barry Khan will be the next highest earner on £127,772, compared with £124,656 this year.
It means the council’s seven highest paid staff in 2025/26 will all be men.
Fellow assistant chief executives Rachel Joyce and Trudy Forster will both receive £124,578 from April.
Twenty-three staff at assistant director level will be paid in the £100,088 to £116,060 bracket.
‘Not excessive’
The appendix says the amounts do not include pension payments or “other temporary payments such as merit and incentive payments eg thank-you payments are excluded”.
The Stray Ferret has asked the council what a ‘thank-you payment’ is, as well as why the number of top earners had increased at a time when funding was tight and households face maximum council tax increases.
The council requests 48 hours to respond to media requests. We will publish its response when received.
A spokesperson did, however, confirm the number of staff on salaries of £100,000 and over will increase from 26 in the current financial year to 32 from April 1, adding:
This relates to assistant directors whose salaries have increased in line with the council’s normal pay policy and annual salary progression.
The lowest paid council and highest staff will be paid £23,656 and £211,044 respectively on April 1. But the report adds the median average, excluding school staff, will be £29,572. It adds:
The ratio between the median and the highest i.e., the ‘pay multiple’ has reduced again to 7.1:1, which compares well with the recommendation in the Hutton Report that the multiple should not exceed 20.
North Yorkshire Council does not have a policy on maintaining or reaching a specific pay multiple but is conscious of the need to ensure that the salaries of the highest paid employees are not excessive and are consistent with the needs of the authority as expressed in this policy statement and its wider pay policy and approach.
County Hall, the council headquarters in Northallerton.
The council plans to use £4.8 million from its reserves to cover a projected £4.8 million shortfall in 2025/26.
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