"Top Coventry council bosses paid £2.9m with one the highest-paid in the country"

A new 'Rich List' has been published



Top Coventry council bosses raked in £2.9 million in a year – with one named as the highest paid in the country after walking away with £573,660.

Martin Yardley was the best-paid individual named in the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) annual Town Hall Rich List, which was published this week.

Mr Yardley, who was Coventry City Council’s deputy chief executive for place, was given a £395,000 early retirement package before leaving to join the University of Warwick in 2020.

Added to his £151,991 annual salary and £26,559 pension contributions, he left with a total of £573,660.

Figures in the TPA’s Rich List show he was the highest remunerated council employee nationally by some distance – £135,214 ahead of the next best-paid who was an unnamed officer at Redcar and Cleveland Council in Yorkshire.

The TPA’s Rich List found at least 2,802 people employed by local authorities in 2019-20 received more than £100,000, an increase of 135 on 2018-19.

The government had planned to introduce a £95,000 cap on exit payments, however that was abandoned in February after court action by trade unions.

The TPA found the average number of employees who received over £100,000 in total remuneration per local authority is seven.

The full list of Coventry staff who feature on the Town Hall Rich List 2021:

Martin Yardley, deputy chief executive for place. Salary: £151,991. Compensation: £395,110. Pension: £26,559. Total: £573,660
Martin Reeves, chief executive. Salary: £191,036. Pension: £38,658. Total: £229,694
Undisclosed. Total: £227,500
Gail Quinton, deputy chief executive for people. Salary: £158,868. Pension: £28,596. Total: £187,464
Barry Hastie, Director of finance and corporate services. Salary: £125,597. Pension: £22,607. Total: £148,204
Undisclosed. Total: £142,500
John Gregg, director of children’s services. Salary: £117,001. Pension: £21,065. Total: £138,066.
Undisclosed. Total: £137,500.
Pete Fahy, director of adult services. Salary: £114,784. Pension: £20,661. Total: £135,445
Liz Gaulton, director of health and wellbeing. Salary: £107,183. Pension: £15,413. Total: £122,596
Undisclosed. Total: £117,500.
Undisclosed. Total: £117,500
Undisclosed. Total: £117,500
Undisclosed. Total: £117,500
Undisclosed. Total: £117,500
Undisclosed. Total: £117,500
Undisclosed. Total: £117,500
Julie Newman, director of law and governance. Salary: 90,445. Pension: £16,280. Total: £106,725.

Well done Martin!