The chief executive of Barking and Dagenham Council took home more than £185,000 last year, a report out today reveals.

The chief executive of Barking and Dagenham Council took home more than £185,000 last year, a report out today shows.

According to the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Chris Naylor pocketed £185,487 in the last financial year.

The Alliance’s Town Hall Rich List report - which uses figures submitted by councils to compare councils across the country, but by law can only publish the names of those earning £150,000 or more - also shows the director of children’s services earned £147,657 last year.

Appointed in November 2014, Mr Naylor earned half as much as Bruce McDonald the highest paid chief exec in London who earned £387,000 at Kingston upon Thames.

The total remuneration figures include salary, benefits, expenses, bonuses, redundancy payments and employer’s pension contributions.

Chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance John O’Connell said: “The average council tax bill has gone up by more than £900 over the last twenty years and spending has gone through the roof.

“Disappointingly, many local authorities are now responding to financial reality through further tax rises and reducing services rather than scaling back top pay.

“Many town hall bosses are continuing to pocket huge remuneration packages. The sheer scale of these packages raises serious questions about efficiency and priorities,” he said.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average weekly pay before tax for full time employees in 2016 was £539 resulting in a gross average salary of £28,028.

A spokesman for Barking and Dagenham Council told the Post the figures were ‘out of date and misleading .

He added: “We understand the importance of keeping costs low for council taxpayers – it’s why Barking and Dagenham’s chief executive’s salary of £168,000 is one of the lowest in London and significantly below the average salary of £180,000. Moreover, since taking the helm of the council our chief executive has slashed senior management costs by £1m per year.

“The Tax Payer’s Alliance always overstate the salaries of top earners by including employer pensions contribution in their numbers which are unrelated to take home pay. The figures are also hopelessly out of date, one of the two posts they are quoting has been deleted as part of the cost cutting of senior pay.

“But this does not escape the fact we have to attract the brightest and the best if we are going to capture the benefits of the borough’s growing economy so no-one is left behind.

“This means driving real improvements in services for local people while delivering thousands of affordable homes for residents and jobs for local people.

“These changes won’t happen overnight but we have started the journey by putting the right people in place to take this work forward.”