Town Hall fat cats told pay must be curbed

Councils have been told to curb the pay of senior staff after figures suggested more than 28,000 are receiving at least £50,000 a year.

The Taxpayers' Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes, said this had cost almost £1.9bn last year.

Local government minister Brandon Lewis said many councils had to "get a grip" and make "sensible savings".

Mr Lewis said: "For too long the senior local government pay bill has spiralled up and up, and taxpayers have been left footing the bill," he said.

"This report exposes the fact that town halls still have massive scope to make sensible savings to protect important front-line services and freeze council tax."

Taxpayers' Alliance (TPA) chief executive Matthew Sinclair said: "Taxpayers are still paying far too much for bloated bureaucracies that have been established in too many town halls over the last decade.

"Councillors need to insist that their local authority does more to find savings and cut back on staff costs that residents cannot afford."