Council makes case for £176,000 top boss salary

Shropshire Council says an annual salary of £176,803 to attract a new boss reflects the market rate for such a senior role.

The authority has begun formally advertising for the permanent position, which has been vacant for the past six months. The pay does not reflect additional sums for returning officer duties.

The council said it had found the wage to be broadly comparable with what other, similar authorities were paying.

Tanya Miles has held the position on an interim basis since Andy Begley resigned last September.

The council said Miles's appointment had always been intended to last six months, with recruitment for a permanent chief executive beginning once the authority's 2026/27 budget had been approved.

Figures published by the Taxpayers' Alliance last year showed the council's previous chief executive Andy Begley earned a base salary £167,143. Further data suggested that when a pension contribution of £28,748 was factored in, the total renumeration package stood at £195,891.

Shropshire Council said the base salary figure related to 2023, before a pay award for chief officers was agreed the following year. That settlement had increased the salary for the role to £171,321, backdated to 1 April, 2024, and a further pay award agreed in December raised it again to £176,803, backdated to 1 April 2025.

In neighbouring Herefordshire, the council has struggled to recruit a chief executive. Reports last year suggested the salary offered there was the third lowest among England's smaller county councils in 2024 to 2025.

Shropshire Council said it wanted to avoid similar difficulties by offering a salary close to the market rate.

"This is a rare and exciting chance to guide the council through an ambitious programme of transformation," a spokesperson said.

"The council has a huge number of challenges and opportunities over the coming years, not least in spending our budget of over £900 million per year in a way which delivers real value for taxpayers.

"The council is clear about its ambition to become a stable, modernised and pioneering rural council, acting as an enabling force within the community and local economy.

"The next chief executive will play a crucial role in shaping that future -bringing clarity, compassion and strong leadership to complex change."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.