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Two hundred public sector workers earn more than PM

Nearly 200 public sector workers earn more than the Prime Minister, with four of them enjoying salaries of more than £1 million a year, it is revealed today.

 

By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor 
Last Updated: 9:09AM GMT 23 Nov 2008

There are 194 people earning more than the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose salary is £189,994 Photo: REUTERS

The Public Sector Rich List 2008, published by the TaxPayers' Alliance today, shows that hundreds of government employees are enjoying rises of nearly 11 per cent.

Topping the list is the head of Network Rail, Ian Coucher who earns £1,244,000 a year. Second and third place go to Adam Crozier, chief executive of Royal Mail, on £1,242,000 and Andy Duncan, chief executive of Channel Four on £1,211,000.

Employees of British Nuclear Fuels, the Financial Services Authority and the BBC are also in the top ten earners.

The list reveals 387 people receiving salary packages worth more than £150,000 a year in 140 government departments, quangos and public corporations. Twenty four are executives who have received sizeable financial rewards despite presiding over embarrassing scandals.

Four people earned £1 million, up from one person last year. Twenty-one people earned above £500,000 a year, up from 17 last year.

Eighty-eight people earned above £250,000, up from 66 people in 2008.

There are 194 people earning more than the Prime Minister, whose salary is £189,994. This is up from 142 in last year's list.

All those on the rich list had an average pay rise of 10.9 per cent between 2006-7 and 2007-8, three times average earnings growth across the country which is currently around 3.5 per cent.

The average total pay package of those on the list was £240,000 per annum, or over £4,600 a week. Although many people on the list are bound to work longer, based on a 35 hour week, this is equal to over £130 an hour or around £2.15 a minute.

The pay packages compare with an average soldier's earnings of around £20,000 a year, a nurse's earnings of £23,000 and the average chief executive of a small company's earnings of £65,000. Even the earnings of the director of a medium sized company, at an average of £122,000 a year, pale in comparison to the salaries of the top public sector earners.

Ten people working for the three bodies responsible for regulating the financial system – the FSA, the Treasury and the Bank of England – earned an average of £400,000 a year.

The average remuneration package of the 24 executives who presided over embarrassing losses of personal data over the past year, including the records of 25 million families in the child benefit disc loss scandal, was over £190,000 a year.