Cumbria council advertises role with higher salary than Prime Minister
Westmorland and Furness Council has justified the high salary for the role
Last updated 30th Jul 2025
Westmorland and Furness Council is advertising a job vacancy with a salary higher than the Prime Minister.
The council is set to start the search for a new chief executive on August 18, according to staffing committee documents.
The role is ‘the most senior role within the council’s leadership and management structure’.
The current salary for this position is £188,227 per year however the report reads: “It is recommended that a review of the current salary together with appropriate benchmarking is undertaken to ensure the current remuneration is reflective of the role and responsibilities.”
The Westmorland and Furness chief executive makes more than Sir Keir Starmer, who currently makes £172,153 although he claims £166,786, as is tradition for the head of the UK Government.
The responsibilities for the role include ‘providing inspirational and strategic leadership’, ‘delivering the ambitions of the council’, and ‘ensuring the provision of high quality, efficient and responsive services to the residents of Westmorland and Furness’.
Benjamin Elks, a manager at the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA), said it was ‘outrageous’ that the chief executive will be earning more than the country’s leader.
He added: “With 512 senior staff earning more than Keir Starmer in 2023-24, according to the TPA’s Town Hall Rich List 2025, town hall pay is clearly out of control.
“It’s time to rein in these fat cat salaries and start linking pay to performance.”
Some other world leaders the council executive would earn more than are French President Emmanuel Macron (£168,381), Norwegian Prime Minister Joas Gahr Store (£150,887) and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (£151,227).
A Westmorland and Furness Council spokesperson said: “We appreciate that salaries for Council CEO’s can look high when compared to national pay averages and other prominent roles…and our senior salaries are carefully scrutinised, subject to national benchmarking and ultimately they are decided upon by democratically elected councillors in an open and transparent way”
“Chief executives of large councils, like Westmorland and Furness, oversee exceptionally large budgets and they are ultimately responsible for providing large, complex services, many of which are to the most vulnerable in our society, such as adult and children’s social care
“These are difficult and complicated roles especially in these extremely challenging times for local government and we need to ensure that in this competitive market we attract the very best leaders to ensure that we deliver quality, essential, services that make a huge difference to people’s lives.”
The current holder of the role is Sam Plum, a former chief executive of Barrow Borough Council and director of communications for Rossendale Borough Council.
She is set to leave the job on December 31 this year. Recruitment is set to be carried out by the council’s staffing committee.
Potential applicants will undergo technical interviews, psychometric testing and a two-day assessment centre.