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Birmingham: senior pay and councillor allowances
Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.
In its draft statement of accounts for 2025-26, Birmingham reports total remuneration of £397,097 for its managing director (including employer pension contributions), a year in which the post changed hands, 78 employees paid £100,000 or more, and £2,600,000 paid in members' allowances.
Key figures
- £397,097Managing Director, 2025-26
- 78Staff paid £100,000 or more, 2025-26
- £2,600,000Members' allowances, 2025-26
- £22,596Basic allowance per councillor, 2026-27
Managing Director
Total remuneration of £397,097 in 2025-26, including employer pension contributions. The post changed hands, or the figure covers part of a year, so it is not compared with the year before.
From the accounts: Joanne Roney, Managing Director, took up the role on 9 September 2024. 2025/26: salary 312,149, expenses 43, pension 84,905. 2024/25 (part year): salary 169,719, expenses 381, pension 46,164. Also in 2024/25: Professor Graeme Betts, 'Acting Chief Executive and Director Adult Social Care', total 164,390 (left 3 November 2024; acting-up payments of £3,380.45). Total excluding pension is not printed as a separate column.
PDF pages 132 and 135
Employees paid £50,000 or more
2,973 employees in 2025-26, up 18.5% on 2024-25 (2,509). 78 were paid £100,000 or more, 6.6 per 100,000 residents. The median among the 4 other metropolitan borough councils collected so far is 7.7 per 100,000.
| Band | 2025-26 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
£50,000 to £59,999Details for £50,000 to £59,999 | 1,795 | 1,300 |
| ||
£60,000 to £69,999Details for £60,000 to £69,999 | 552 | 600 |
| ||
£70,000 to £79,999Details for £70,000 to £79,999 | 301 | 263 |
| ||
£80,000 to £89,999Details for £80,000 to £89,999 | 167 | 188 |
| ||
£90,000 to £99,999Details for £90,000 to £99,999 | 80 | 61 |
| ||
£100,000 to £109,999Details for £100,000 to £109,999 | 24 | 33 |
| ||
£110,000 to £119,999Details for £110,000 to £119,999 | 17 | 26 |
| ||
£120,000 and overDetails for £120,000 and over | 37 | 38 |
| ||
Includes schools staff. Senior officers listed separately are not in these counts. From the accounts: Council uses £10,000 bands with a top band of £120,000+. Headed 'Other Council employees receiving more than £50,000 remuneration for the year (excluding employer's pension contributions)'; split into 'Teaching Staff & Staff in Schools' and 'Other Council Employees'. Staff within Voluntary Aided and Foundation schools are excluded. Figures include employees with planned termination payments (94 in 2025/26).
Source: Birmingham, Draft Statement of Accounts 2025/26 (draft), PDF page 137. Read by hand; checked 2026-09-24.
Councillors' allowances
£2,600,000 in 2025-26, no change on 2024-25 (£2,600,000), or £2.21 per resident. The median among the 4 other metropolitan borough councils collected so far is £3.27 per resident.
| Paid as | Total |
|---|---|
| Basic allowances | £1,903,912 |
| Special responsibility allowances | £576,420 |
| Expenses | £4,893 |
| All | £2,485,224 |
The basic allowance for each councillor is £22,596 a year (2026-27).
From the accounts: "Allowances paid to Members of the Council in 2025/26 totalled £2.6m (2024/25: £2.6m). These figures include Members' allowances and expenses." (PDF page 131)
Published allowances: Payments made to City Councillors / *Co-opted Members in financial year 2024/25.
What this data does and doesn't show
- Every figure is as Birmingham printed it, in accounts that have not yet been audited. Counts in the £100,000 figure are our sum of the council's bands.
- Comparisons are with the other metropolitan borough councils read so far; no national figure is published for England.
- Accounts figures in £m as printed. Published 2024/25 schedule Grand Total row: Basic Allowance 1,903,911.86; Special Responsibility 576,419.59; Travel 887.86; Other Travel 543.70; Carers 3,461.08; Subsistence 0.00. 'expenses' is our sum of the travel, other travel, carers and subsistence columns and 'total' is our sum of all columns; the schedule prints no overall total. 2025/26 schedule not yet published at time of checking. Basic rate is the scheme appendix 'Members' Allowances Rates (from April 2026)'; the 2024/25 schedule shows a full-year basic allowance of 18,876.00.