Ealing Council has voted to increase the salary of its top official to more than £200,000, almost £40,000 more than the Prime Minister earns.

The council, who are recruiting for a Chief Executive, have voted to increase the proposed salary to £200,161.

This is an increase of nearly £6,000 from the chief executive's current salary of £194,33.

The new salary being offered is substantially higher than that paid to the Prime Minister.

The chief executive is a council's most senior non-political officer, and performs a neutral role similar to civil servants in Whitehall.

They are recruited and not elected into the role. 

Ealing Council opened recruitment for the vacancy yesterday (January 13).

Explaining why they chose to increase the salary offered to the successful candidate in a meeting of the Chief Officer Panel on Wednesday, councillors said the salary had not been reviewed for over ten years apart from to make adjustments for nationally negotiated cost of living increases.

Justifying the decision, the council said it wanted to attract "suitably high calibre candidates" from the private, as well as the public, sector and considered it "unlikely" that candidates would apply if the salary was not raised. 

The council also noted that it anticipated similar vacancies to become available at other London councils, and so considered the salary hike necessary to give Ealing a competitive edge. 

While this decision by the Chief Officer Panel raises the salary that can be offered to the successful candidate, the final sum offered to the new Chief Executive will be confirmed by the Chief Officer Appointments Panel before the candidate takes up the post. 

For his role as Prime Minister in 2020, Boris Johnson was entitled to claim up to £161,866 including expenses, nearly £40k less than the role offered by Ealing council.

The council hopes to recruit a new Chief Executive by April this year.

Ealing council have been contacted for comment.