THE North-East’s biggest council has come under fire for paying six-figure remuneration packages to 22 staff – more than the previous year, despite unprecedented budget cuts.

According to the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TA) Town Hall Rich List published today, 22 Durham County Council staff earned more than £100,000 in 2011-12 – an increase of five on the previous year.

The figure puts Durham, which faces cuts of nearly £220m between 2010 and 2018, 12th in the councils ‘league table’ topped by Camden, which paid six-figure remuneration to 40 employees.

However, Don McLure, Durham’s corporate director of resources, said the council had in fact reduced the number of staff paid more than £100,000.

“The published figures include one-off redundancy payments to a number of staff as a direct result of our commitment to reduce management costs by at least 30 per cent.

“It is therefore disappointing that this progress is not made clear in the information released,” Mr McLure said.

Last year, the council merged two departments, saving £175,000 a year.

The figures from the TA, a right-wing campaign group, showed 103 councils were employing more staff receiving more than £100,000 than before.

Some 636 staff received more than £150,000 and 42 more than £250,000.

TA chief executive Matthew Sinclair said: “It is good news that the number of senior council staff making more than £100,000 a year is finally falling, although that may only be because many authorities have finished paying eye-watering redundancy bills.

“Sadly, too many local authorities are still increasing the number of highly-paid staff on their payroll, some of whom are given hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation just to move from one public sector job to another.”

A Local Government Association spokesman said senior officer pay had to provide value for taxpayers’ money while staff with skills to oversee vital services were still recruited and retained.

According to the TA figures, Durham chief executive George Garlick’s total remuneration for 2011-12 was £226,477, down from £243,278 in 2010-11.

Sunderland chief Dave Smith’s remuneration was £240,445 – the highest in the region. Northumberland had 15 staff on six-figure remuneration packages.