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Manchester: 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, Manchester reports total remuneration of £273,961 for its chief executive (head of paid service) (including employer pension contributions), a year in which the post changed hands, 55 employees paid £100,000 or more, and £2,491,817 paid in members' allowances.
Key figures
- £273,961Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service), 2025-26
- 55Staff paid £100,000 or more, 2025-26
- £2,491,817Members' allowances, 2025-26
- £20,703Basic allowance per councillor, 2025-26
Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service)
Total remuneration of £273,961 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: 2025/26: Tom Stannard, salary 233,755, employer's pension 40,206, total including pension 273,961. 2024/25 lines as printed: Tom Stannard (commenced 3 February 2025) total 42,664; Joanne Roney, Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service), left 8 September 2024, salary 128,732, pension 17,099, total 145,831; Eamonn Boylan, Interim Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service), 27 August 2024 to 31 January 2025, total 63,240. Total excluding pension is not printed as a separate column.
PDF pages 117-118
Employees paid £50,000 or more
1,459 employees in 2025-26, up 17.9% on 2024-25 (1,237). 55 were paid £100,000 or more, 9.4 per 100,000 residents. The median among the 4 other metropolitan borough councils collected so far is 6.4 per 100,000.
| Band | 2025-26 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
£50,000 to £54,999Details for £50,000 to £54,999 | 667 | 542 |
| ||
£55,000 to £59,999Details for £55,000 to £59,999 | 308 | 253 |
| ||
£60,000 to £64,999Details for £60,000 to £64,999 | 187 | 163 |
| ||
£65,000 to £69,999Details for £65,000 to £69,999 | 0 | 61 |
| ||
£70,000 to £74,999Details for £70,000 to £74,999 | 111 | 38 |
| ||
£75,000 to £79,999Details for £75,000 to £79,999 | 42 | 44 |
| ||
£80,000 to £84,999Details for £80,000 to £84,999 | 26 | 32 |
| ||
£85,000 to £89,999Details for £85,000 to £89,999 | 31 | 26 |
| ||
£90,000 to £94,999Details for £90,000 to £94,999 | 20 | 21 |
| ||
£95,000 to £99,999Details for £95,000 to £99,999 | 12 | 22 |
| ||
£100,000 to £104,999Details for £100,000 to £104,999 | 26 | 13 |
| ||
£105,000 to £109,999Details for £105,000 to £109,999 | 10 | 2 |
| ||
£110,000 to £114,999Details for £110,000 to £114,999 | 2 | 7 |
| ||
£115,000 to £119,999Details for £115,000 to £119,999 | 3 | 7 |
| ||
£120,000 to £124,999Details for £120,000 to £124,999 | 9 | 0 |
| ||
£125,000 to £129,999Details for £125,000 to £129,999 | 1 | 2 |
| ||
£130,000 to £134,999Details for £130,000 to £134,999 | 1 | 2 |
| ||
£135,000 to £139,999Details for £135,000 to £139,999 | 1 | 1 |
| ||
£140,000 and overDetails for £140,000 and over | 2 | 1 |
| ||
Includes schools staff. Senior officers listed separately are not in these counts. From the accounts: Two tables: 'Non schools-based staff' (totals 1,037 in 2025/26; 870 in 2024/25) and 'Schools based staff' (totals 422; 367). Counts used are each table's 'Total' column (staff who have and have not received severance or other related payments). The note says the disclosure is 'excluding the remuneration details of the Council's senior employees, which are disclosed separately' and that 'figures have been aggregated or suppressed where necessary to prevent the potential identification of individuals'.
Source: Manchester, Annual Statement of Accounts 2025/26 (draft), PDF pages 114-116. Read by hand; checked 2026-09-24.
Councillors' allowances
£2,491,817 in 2025-26, or £4.24 per resident. The median among the 4 other metropolitan borough councils collected so far is £3.20 per resident.
| Paid as | Total |
|---|---|
| Basic allowances | £2,074,430 |
| Special responsibility allowances | £417,207 |
| Expenses | £180 |
| All | £2,491,817 |
The basic allowance for each councillor is £20,703 a year (2025-26).
Published allowances: 2025/26 Members' Allowances Scheme - Notice of money paid by Manchester City Council to each Councillor in the financial year 2025/26.
What this data does and doesn't show
- Every figure is as Manchester 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 treated as draft: no auditor's report found in the document. No members' allowances total was found in the accounts by text search (related parties note only states there were no material transactions with Members). The published 2025/26 notice lists each councillor without a column total; basic, SRA, expenses and total are our sums of the per-councillor columns (row totals reconcile). Basic rate shown is the full-year Basic Allowance paid to most councillors in the 2025/26 notice; the allowances scheme PDF (democracy.manchester.gov.uk s56513) was not publicly retrievable. Manchester website blocks automated downloads; the accounts were read in a browser.