Westminster City Council publishes details of senior pay, including head of legal

Westminster City Council has become one of the first major local authorities to publish details of its executive pay, revealing the council's head of legal post to be the second best remunerated non-director position in the council.

The Head of Legal role, presently occupied by Peter Large, attracts a salary of £106,589 plus a discretionary bonus (or “deferred pay” as Westminster describes it) of £10,953 in the current financial year. The post also comes with a pension, company car and private health insurance. Operational directors, broadly equivalent roles in other departments, receive between basic salaries of £60,714 and £109,779 with the latter being paid to the Operational Director of Adult and Social Care.

Most Westminster directors receive basic salaries £124,602, although the head of legal earns more than the Director of  Planning, Performance and Improvement. Westminster's chief executive, Mike More, is paid £200,379 per year in basic salary, with a bonus of £22,264 and benefits from a pension and season ticket loan.

Westminster has also promised to publish the details of all its contracts with a value of more than £10m online in the near future.