THE chief executive of West Berkshire Council is paid £143,823, which is more than eight times higher the lowest paid staff employed by the council.

Nick Carter, the chief executive, is paid a £138,823 salary plus a £5,000 car allowance.

The lowest stated salary the council pays is £16,881, while the lowest paid employees are paid £9 per hour.

The law requires local authorities to publish an annual pay policy statement, setting out how much the council pays it chief officers and how much it pays its lowest paid employees.

The policy does not require the council to publish how much it pays agency workers or apprentices.

Chief officers include the chief executive, the monitoring officer, the chief financial officer, executive and corporate directors, and in WBC, all heads of service.

A spokeswoman for WBC said: “The chief executive’s salary increases in line with other employees, not at a higher percentage. Our chief executive is paid less than most chief executives of surrounding unitary authorities.

“This is based on independent research which compared/benchmarked senior salaries and showed West Berkshire Council to be within the lower quartile compared to chief executive posts across Berkshire unitary councils.”

The median salary of WBC employees is £28,221, while the mean is £30,195.