As many as 87 public sector servants in the UK, including a leading NRI financial wizard Zarin Patel, earn more than British PM.
LONDON: As many as 87 public sector servants in the UK, including a leading NRI financial wizard Zarin Patel, earn more than British Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to the first Public Sector Rich List released on Friday.
Patel, Group finance Director of BBC earns 324,000 pounds (USD 618,277) while Blair earns just 183,932 pounds (USD 350,966) per annum. After graduating in economics from the London School of Economics in 1982, Patel had trained as a chartered accountant with financial consultant KPMG. She joined the BBC in 1998.
The first Public Sector Rich List, compiled by the Taxpayers' Alliance, shows that 87 public servants earn more than Blair and 171 take home more than 150,000 pounds a year.
The high-earners include executives of big public sector corporations, including the BBC, Royal Mail and Network Rail, as well as NHS bosses.
The highest paid of all is Bob Kiley, the Commissioner of Transport for London, who was brought from New York by London Mayor Ken Livingstone to turn around the capital's transport.
The American earned 1,146,425 pounds last year, despite a controversial reign that has ended with his acting as a part-time consultant to the mayor.
"London's transport network, which is vital to the economy of the capital and the UK, is now in the best health for decades," a spokesman said.
The second highest earner is Adam Crozier, the group chief executive of Royal Mail, on 1.038 million pounds last year.
The former Football Association boss has turned Royal Mail from a loss-making enterprise to a profitable one, but has run into criticism for increasing the price of stamps and canceling the second delivery. He is followed by John Armitt, Chief Executive, Network Rail who earned 1,027,000 pounds.
Of the top ten public sector earners, three work for Royal Mail, with David Mills, the chief executive of the Post Office, on 816,000 pounds despite the furore over closing rural branches. A Royal Mail spokesman said that it did not comment on executive pay.
Media executives are well represented, led by Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC, on 619,000 pounds followed by Kevin Lygo, the director of television at the state-owned Channel 4, on 565,000 pounds.
Ten BBC employees earned more than 287,000 pounds last year, while 13 members of the communications regulator Ofcom getting over 177,639 pounds.
The most politically sensitive salaries are in the National Health Service, where hospital deficits are leading to job losses. Richard Granger, chief executive of IT for the NHS, earned 285,000 pounds followed by Nigel Crisp, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health, on 215,000 pounds.
Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "Taxpayers will be shocked at the scale of these pay awards. Large numbers of people in the public sector are effectively being paid City salaries. It is not surprising that taxes keep going up when the salaries for the public sector's top salaries keep rocketing."
The Government insisted that pay levels were needed to recruit and retain quality staff. A spokesperson said: An effective pay policy will retain, recruit and motivate staff delivering public services."
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