Thurrock Council officer costs soar, with several executive payments topping more than £250,000
By Nub News Reporter 13th Apr 2026
TWO senior Thurrock Council officers feature in a new report published by the TaxPayers' Alliance which highlights the soaring cost of senior officers.
The council's Commissioner Managing Director Dr David Smith has already courted controversy and condemnation over his salary of more than £250,000 a year – now two other senior officers have been named in the Alliance's latest Town Hall Rich list.
The cost for the services of interim executive director of Place Claire Demmel is £283,844, while her colleague Paul Crick has cost council taxpayers £277,344. The figures relate to the 2024-25 financial year and as both directors are interim, it should be pointed out the full cost doesn't go directly to them but the agencies through which they are employed.
They don't enjoy the benefits of being 'full time' employees, such as holidays etc.
Ms Demmel had previously offered to switch to direct employment to save the council money, but that suggestion was vetoed by Dr Smith – under whose leadership the council has employed a plethora of 'interim' not-directly employed officers.
Nub News understands that Ms Demmel's cost-saving attempt was finally approved and from the beginning of this month she has been on a direct, fixed term contract.
It is unclear what the payment structure is for many other senior officers as the council does not publish figures until they are at least a year old.
It was only under pressure from Thurrock Nub News that the payment details for the year ending 31 March 2024 were released last year by the council. The council failed to meet a legal obligation to publish them by the end of April 2024 and it took pressure from Nub News editor Neil Speight to get the figures published in August – when it was revealed at least 16 officers were earning more than £100,000.
However, officer costs have soared since. On 31 March 2024 the Director of Place role (fulfilled by Ms Demmel under her agency agreement) was stated to be between £135,000 and £140,000.
Figures for the costs of that post quoted in today's (Monday, 13 April) TaxPayers' Alliance briefing say the cost of her services in the 12 months ending 31 March 2025 had rocketed to £283,844 – a staggering increase of more than 100 per cent!
Mr Crick's role of Chief Operations Lead – Place, doesn't even appear to be on the list issued by Thurrock Council in 2024. In that list 18 officers were shown to be earning more than £90,000 and a total of 425 officers earned more than £50,000.
Looking at the national picture the Town Hall Rich List 2026 finds that a record 4,733 council employees received more than £100,000 remuneration in 2024-25, with 1,255 receiving over £150,000 in total remuneration in 2024-25, another record.
The rich list reveals there were 320 council employees who received a higher salary than the prime minister was entitled to in 2024-25.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REPORT
John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers are caught in a pincer movement with a record-breaking tax burden on one side and a bloated public sector feathering its nest on the other.
"Our latest Town Hall Rich List exposes a surging class of council bosses enjoying six-figure packages, even as they plead poverty, slash frontline services, and hike council tax bills far beyond inflation.
"Residents can see exactly how many local bureaucrats are receiving plush packages and judge for themselves whether they're getting value for money."
When Dr Dave Smith arrived in Thurrock in the wake of government intervention after it effectively decalred bankruptcy after blowing more than a billion pounds on a failed 'borrow to invest' strategy, he accepted the challenge of restoring financial stability and said: "Thurrock Council is facing some of the greatest challenges ever faced by a local authority, and the scale of the task ahead should not be underestimated.
"It will require a collective determination, perseverance and understanding from members, officers, businesses and all our partners across Thurrock, to make the difficult decisions and take the action needed to turn the council around so that it has solid foundations for the future.
"I will be focused on working together with colleague commissioners, elected members and officers, as well as listening to residents' views, to continue to make the right choices which are required for improvement and recovery.
"This will be the only way of restoring confidence in the Council and ensuring it meets the priority needs of Thurrock's communities."
Since then he has supervised the selling off of tens of millions of pounds of borough assets, slashed services and commissioned hundreds of millions of further borrowing. The current debt after all his endeavours remains above a billion pounds.
Last week environmental services staff in the GMB union mounted a protest outside the town hall after being told members on the frontline could expect salary cuts of up to £2,000, something that now seems incongruous in the wake of the huge pay increases for the council's elite officers.
Linked reports:
Lone battle to get rid of CEO post: https://thurrock.nub.news/news/local-news/independent-councillors-lone-battle-to-scrap-new-chief-executive-appointment-to-save-cash-and-improve-efficiency-is-vetoed-by-main-parties-292359
Council can now say farewell to Commissioner CEO: Thurrock Council admits it breached rules by refusing to publish salary details: https://thurrock.nub.news/news/local-news/thurrock-council-admits-it-is-breaking-transparency-code-by-withholding-staff-salaries-from-public-view-277466
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