A SURVEY showing 818 council employees nationally are paid over £100,000 a year has revealed that no-one working for Wyre Forest District Council tops that figure.

The TaxPayers' Alliance presented its second Town Hall Rich List after making enquiries about council remuneration packages under Freedom of Information requests. The figures cover the year 2006-07.

Across the country, six people in town halls earned more than £200,000 a year, while 88 were paid over £150,000. Fourteen were paid more than the Prime Minister's £188,849, while 132 earned more than a cabinet minister's £137,579.

The average remuneration received by those on the list was £120,938 - over £2,300 a week.

Those appearing in both this year's rich list and last year's had average pay rises of 4.6 per cent, more than double the Government's target for public sector wage inflation.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers have a right to know how much senior town hall officials are being paid because only then can we judge whether they deserve their remuneration.

"Too often, council executives are rewarded handsomely, even when they fail.

"Families and pensioners are struggling with the demands of yet another council tax rise and councils owe it to them to cut back on executive pay hikes."

Ben Farrugia, policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Some local government executives still feel that what they're paid is not the taxpayers' business but, with council tax bills now tipping many families over the edge, it is more important than ever that councils are open and transparent about their costs.

"Council employees must be accountable to the local residents who pay them."

Total remuneration referred to in the survey results includes but is not limited to salary. Bonuses, benefits-in-kind, returning officer payments, car allowances, private medical insurance and redundancy payments are also included.

Some of the 450-plus councils contacted by the TaxPayers' Alliance refused to provide employees' remuneration details.

Reasons cited included: "Disclosure is incompatible with the purposes for which we hold the information" (Harrow) and "The county council estimates that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the sum of £450" ... "Your request is vexatious" (Hampshire).