THE number of North Ayrshire Council officers who earn over £100,000 for their work with the local authority has been revealed.

The information was disclosed in the 'Town Hall Rich List 2023' which was published by the Tax Payers Alliance.

This showed that a total of six North Ayrshire Council (NAC) officers received a remuneration of over £100k in the 2021-22 financial year.

While one of these six earned a total greater than £150,000.

This was NAC's chief executive, Craig Hatton, who receives a salary of £144,553. Including an additional £29,227 contributed towords his pension by his employers, Mr Hatton's total earnings are £173,780.

NAC director for growth and investment, Karen Yeomans, executive director for communities, Audrey Sutton and executive director for place, Russell McCutcheon all recieve a remuneration of £138,524 - made up of a slary of £116,114 and a £22,410 pension contribution.

Also earning over £100k is NAC's Section 95 officer - Mark Boyd. Mr Boyd earns a salary of £94,415 - though once a pension contribution of £18,222 is considered, this totals £112,637.

The last of six employees earning six figures from the council was not disclosed - nor was their job title specified.

The only information included was that they earned a salary of £102,500 - with no further details of any contributions - leaving that as the final remunerated total.

Comparing North Ayrshire to the rest of the county, six employees earning over £100k was in fact the lowest of all three councils in Ayrshire.

East Ayrshire Council had seven employees earning over this mark, and South Ayrshire Council had the highest amount with eight.

However, of all council officers in Ayrshire, Craig Hatton took home the highest total remuneration.

Nationally, 246 council officers in Scotland earned over £100k - 50 of which earned upwards of £150k. A total of 2,759 local government employees earned at least six figures UK-wide, 721 of which received a total remuneration of over £150k.

For the third year running, the local authority in Scotland with the most employees who received remuneration in excess of £100,000 in 2021-22 was Edinburgh, with 29.

The biggest remuneration package in the nation was received by North Lanarkshire’s executive director for enterprise and communities - £536,530, the third largest remuneration in the UK.

UK-wide the local authority with the greatest number of employees receiving total remuneration over £100,000 was Westminster, with 50 employees.

The highest remunerated council employee was the managing director of Guildford council, receiving £607,633 in total remuneration.

This included pension contributions of £339,158, £154,240 compensation for loss of office, a salary of £107,195 and a £5,688 in benefits.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, blasted the figures.

He said: "Taxpayers facing record council tax rises want to be sure they are getting value for money from their local authority leadership.

“Many authorities continue with extremely generous pay and perks, including bonuses and golden goodbyes, while local people are facing a financial squeeze.

“Residents can use these figures to hold their local town hall bosses to account.”