New research reveals dozens of senior Kent council staff earn more than £100,000 a year - but one expert argues such high pay is fully deserved.

The ‘Town Hall Rich List’ compiled by the Taxpayers’ Alliance pressure group shows which local authority chiefs took home six-figure sums in the 2022-23 financial year.

This includes 38 members of staff at Kent County Council, with former chief executive David Cockburn receiving £219,221 plus £46,694 in pension contributions.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance argues this shows there is “plenty of cash swimming around” in local government - despite many authorities being in dire financial straits.

But Prof Colin Copus told KentOnline council chiefs are simply paid “the going rate” and could earn more in the private sector.

The emeritus professor of local politics at De Montfort University said: “If you want to attract the best quality people to any particular job then you make sure the remuneration is appropriate.

“You will often find that that the chief executives are on lower salaries than they could have got anywhere else.

“There are few chief executives from the private sector whose organisations cover such a vast array of different services and different products, modes of delivery and the need to coordinate, control, oversee and manage all of that.”

The data shows two of Kent’s district councils - Sevenoaks and Folkestone & Hythe - both have six employees earning more than £100,000.

Meanwhile, Canterbury has three, as does Tunbridge Wells.

Ashford Borough Council has two, with two others on £90,000 and one on £89,000.

Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council also has two employees on more than £100,000 and three on £98,000.

A chief executive is essentially the head civil servant at a local authority, taking ultimate responsibility for decisions around managing the council.

Professor Copus insists salaries in local government, particularly for those at the top, are not too high.

“They’re paid the going rate,” he said.

“Why do we pay brain surgeons what we pay them? Because that’s what they can demand and that’s the nature of the job.

“I think that tends to get overlooked in this so-called Town Hall Rich List.

“They’re paying what is required to get the right people to do the job that they have to do. And it’s a unique job that isn’t really reflected anywhere else in the private sector.”

The research also reveals 188 council bosses across the country earned more than the Prime Minister’s total salary of £164,951 in 2022-23.

But Prof Copus poured scorn on this comparison.

“The Prime Minister’s salary gets used as an indication of ‘nobody anywhere in the public sector should ever earn any more than this’ - and where this sort of lunatic idea came from I’m not quite sure,” he said.

“The Prime Minister’s role is not one that runs a major public service - it’s a political office.

“Decisions are taken but in terms of what council chief executives or chief executives anywhere else do as their day-to-day job, they’re in no way comparable.”

He also argues that ever since the modern system of local government was created in 1974, it has been normal for council chiefs to earn good money - and it has no relation to the crisis in local government finance.

Since 2010, the real terms spending power of councils has been cut by 27%, according to the Local Government Association.

In the past three years, six local authorities have filed Section 114 notices - effectively declaring they are bankrupt.

KCC leader Cllr Roger Gough said in January that the council continues to "keep that wolf from the door", despite facing tough financial pressures.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance questions whether money spent on council chiefs’ salaries could instead go towards public services.

Media campaign manager William Yarwood said: “The prevailing narrative is that local councils simply have ‘no money’ and that without an injection of cash from Westminster many of them face bankruptcy.

“It’s touted that what is needed is £4bn from taxpayers to bridge the funding gap currently plaguing council chequebooks.

“The reality is that despite complaints and finger-pointing, our research shows that there is plenty of cash swimming around.

“Residents will ask whether it’s falling into the pockets of council bosses rather than going towards vital public services.”

Council chief executives’ pay is meant to be publicly reported. However, at the time the Taxpayers’ Alliance compiled the data, 59 councils had not released accounts for 2022-23.

In Kent, Dover, Gravesham, Maidstone, Medway and Thanet councils have not released accounts for that financial year.

As of April last year, the median annual wage in the UK was £34,963.

Mr Cockburn retired last year and has since been replaced by Amanda Beer in the top role at KCC.