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Cardiff: 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, Cardiff reports total remuneration of £248,491 for its chief executive (including employer pension contributions), 61 employees paid £100,000 or more, and £1,951,000 paid in members' allowances.
Key figures
- £248,491Chief Executive, 2025-26
- 61Staff paid £100,000 or more, 2025-26
- £1,951,000Members' allowances, 2025-26
- £19,771Basic allowance per councillor, 2025-26
Chief Executive
Total remuneration of £248,491 in 2025-26, including employer pension contributions. That is up 3.2% on 2024-25 (£240,786). The median among the 2 other Welsh councils collected so far is £200,946.
From the accounts: Chief Executive - Paul Orders. 2025/26: salary, fees & allowances 208,116; taxable benefits, compensation and pension strain 0; pension column 40,375; total 248,491. 2024/25: 201,663; 39,123; 240,786. Column headings in the PDF are rotated and could not be read cleanly; the total equals salary plus the pension column. Note (a): the Chief Executive is the Returning Officer and fees for that role are additional to the table. A total excluding pension is not printed as a column.
PDF page 65, Note 8.3
Employees paid £60,000 or more
953 employees in 2025-26, up 31.4% on 2024-25 (725). 61 were paid £100,000 or more, 16.0 per 100,000 residents. The median among the 3 other Welsh councils collected so far is 8.0 per 100,000.
| Band | 2025-26 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
£60,000 to £64,999Details for £60,000 to £64,999 | 350 | 307 |
| ||
£65,000 to £69,999Details for £65,000 to £69,999 | 215 | 118 |
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£70,000 to £74,999Details for £70,000 to £74,999 | 103 | 63 |
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£75,000 to £79,999Details for £75,000 to £79,999 | 61 | 76 |
| ||
£80,000 to £84,999Details for £80,000 to £84,999 | 64 | 53 |
| ||
£85,000 to £89,999Details for £85,000 to £89,999 | 48 | 32 |
| ||
£90,000 to £94,999Details for £90,000 to £94,999 | 34 | 7 |
| ||
£95,000 to £99,999Details for £95,000 to £99,999 | 17 | 24 |
| ||
£100,000 to £104,999Details for £100,000 to £104,999 | 19 | 8 |
| ||
£105,000 to £109,999Details for £105,000 to £109,999 | 7 | 4 |
| ||
£110,000 to £114,999Details for £110,000 to £114,999 | 3 | 5 |
| ||
£115,000 to £119,999Details for £115,000 to £119,999 | 3 | 3 |
| ||
£120,000 to £124,999Details for £120,000 to £124,999 | 4 | 2 |
| ||
£125,000 to £139,999Details for £125,000 to £139,999 | 0 | 0 |
| ||
£125,000 to £129,999Details for £125,000 to £129,999 | 2 | 5 |
| ||
£130,000 to £134,999Details for £130,000 to £134,999 | 3 | 2 |
| ||
£135,000 to £139,999Details for £135,000 to £139,999 | 1 | 3 |
| ||
£140,000 to £144,999Details for £140,000 to £144,999 | 3 | 6 |
| ||
£145,000 to £149,999Details for £145,000 to £149,999 | 9 | 0 |
| ||
£150,000 to £154,999Details for £150,000 to £154,999 | 0 | 2 |
| ||
£150,000 to £164,999Details for £150,000 to £164,999 | 0 | 0 |
| ||
£155,000 to £159,999Details for £155,000 to £159,999 | 2 | 0 |
| ||
£160,000 to £199,999Details for £160,000 to £199,999 | 0 | 0 |
| ||
£165,000 to £169,999Details for £165,000 to £169,999 | 0 | 2 |
| ||
£170,000 to £174,999Details for £170,000 to £174,999 | 0 | 0 |
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£175,000 to £179,999Details for £175,000 to £179,999 | 1 | 0 |
| ||
£180,000 to £184,999Details for £180,000 to £184,999 | 1 | 1 |
| ||
£185,000 to £189,999Details for £185,000 to £189,999 | 1 | 0 |
| ||
£190,000 to £194,999Details for £190,000 to £194,999 | 0 | 0 |
| ||
£195,000 to £199,999Details for £195,000 to £199,999 | 1 | 1 |
| ||
£200,000 to £204,999Details for £200,000 to £204,999 | 0 | 1 |
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£200,000 to £209,999Details for £200,000 to £209,999 | 0 | 0 |
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£205,000 to £209,999Details for £205,000 to £209,999 | 1 | 0 |
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Includes schools staff. Includes senior officers. From the accounts: Welsh threshold £60,000. Note 8.2: 'the number of employees, whose remuneration is over £60,000 per annum within bands of £5,000 ... including senior officers whose remuneration is disclosed in more detail in note 8.3. It excludes any staff paid via agency.' Includes some severance payments and Returning Officer fees; excludes employer's pension. Separately identifies individuals directly employed by school governing bodies. Non Schools and Teaching columns; totals Non Schools 240 / Teaching 713 (2025/26) and 181 / 544 (2024/25). Runs of all-zero bands collapsed here.
Source: Cardiff, Draft Statement of Accounts 2025/26 (draft), PDF pages 63-64, Note 8.2. Read by hand; checked 2026-09-24.
Councillors' allowances
£1,951,000 in 2025-26, up 6.1% on 2024-25 (£1,839,000), or £5.11 per resident. The median among the 3 other Welsh councils collected so far is £8.41 per resident.
| Paid as | Total |
|---|---|
| Basic allowances | £1,081,996 |
| Special responsibility allowances | £851,643 |
| Expenses | £17,491 |
| All | £1,951,130 |
The basic allowance for each councillor is £19,771 a year (2025-26). It is set nationally: £19,771 for 2025-26.
From the accounts: "The total amount of Members' Allowances (including basic and special responsibility) paid in 2025/26 was £1.951 million (£1.839 million in 2024/25)." (PDF page 70, Note 8.5)
Published allowances: Member Remuneration and Allowances 2025 to 2026.
What this data does and doesn't show
- Every figure is as Cardiff 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 Welsh councils read so far; no national figure is published for England.
- Published 2025/26 spreadsheet Total row: Basic Salary 1,081,995.91; Senior Salary - Executive Members 800,806.44; Civic Salary 50,836.50; Travel 145.27; Subsistence 28.00; Reimbursement of care costs 17,317.55; Total 1,951,129.67; Pension Contributions 69,399.72 (not in Total). 'sra' is our sum of the senior and civic salary columns; 'expenses' our sum of travel, subsistence and care. Co-opted members are shown separately (total 22,004.36). Basic rate is the national Welsh basic salary for 2025-26 (£19,771); the spreadsheet shows 19,770.96 paid.