The wage bill for high earning council workers in the Black Country and Staffordshire rose by £7 million last year, despite the public sector pay freeze.

The number of council workers in the West Midlands earning more than £50,000 has risen over the past two years, new figures reveal today.

Sandwell Council’s spending on staff receiving salaries of £50,000 or more rose from £6.7 million in 2009-10 to £11.4m in 2010/11, according to the figures from pressure group the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

However the council said that 69 out of 70 staff who saw their pay increased to over £50,000 were actually being made redundant, and the rise was because of paying them what they were entitled to.

Dudley and Wolverhampton councils said their figures were similarly affected.

The figures also do not take into account salaries at schools, where teachers are on the payroll of Black Country councils and Staffordshire County Council, but have their wages set by their governing bodies.

Dudley Council saw the number of staff on £50,000 or above rise from 327 to 372, while at Staffordshire County Council it went up from 709 to 761.

Wolverhampton paid 137 staff more than £50,000 in 2010/11 compared with 119 the year before.

Walsall Council reduced the number of staff on over £50,000 from 100 to 93 while at Cannock Chase it fell by one to 11. South Staffordshire paid two more staff more than £50,000 in 2010/11 –  a total of 15 staff.

In Stafford and Wyre Forest there was no change and  Lichfield it increased by one with nine workers.

Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s not fair to demand that ordinary workers take a pay freeze or lose their jobs while more and more middle managers are enjoying generous remuneration.”

Staffordshire County Council said it had shed 19 top tier posts over the last year, making a saving of £900,000.

Cost of £50k plus workers

2009/10             2010/11
Cannock Chase    £860,000        £757,500
Dudley        £20,177,500              £22,880,000
Lichfield    £610,000                     £677,500
Sandwell    £6,767,500                 £11,462,500
South Staffs*    £847,500           £982,500
Stafford    £792,500                      £807,500
Staffordshire    £43,602,500    £47,227,500
Walsall        £7,290,000               £6,267,500
Wolverhampton  £7,632,500   £9,232,500

* Figures include pension contributions