By political editor Paul Francis

Council chiefs across Kent earning more than £150,000 will be legally required to disclose all information about their pay packages from next year.

The Government has passed legislation that means details of their pay, bonuses, pensions, other perks and severance pay-outs will have to be made public for the first time.

It comes in the wake of growing disquiet among all the main political parties over the issue of what has been dubbed "fat cat" public sector pay deals.

Individuals affected will also have to be named when councils publish the details as part of their annual statement of accounts.

The law will affect at least eight of Kent county council’s senior directors and its chief executive Peter Gilroy. It will also capture several other district and borough council chief executives in Kent.

Earlier this year, KCC refused to say how much individual senior officers had been paid in bonuses after we revealed that the authority’s chief officer group had between them shared more than £100,000.

At the time, KCC refused to name the individuals and say how much each had received, saying it would breach Data Protection rules and was private. Under the new law, it will be compelled to provide such information.

The authority will also be required to disclose details of individual termination payouts to senior staff, which it has also withheld.

John Denham, the communities and local government minister, said: "The average pay of a local government worker has only gone up by £6,000 in seven years while the average for a chief executive has gone up by £40,000. I know most of these people have given a lifetime of public service.

"But in some cases this has just gone too far. Next year councils will have to publish the pay bill for their top people in an open and transparent way. The taxpayer - the real pay boss - has a legitimate right to see this information and decide whether or not it is fair."

All three of the main political parties are committed to capping public sector pay for senior council officials and have signalled that any deal above certain limits will need Treasury approval.