THE gap between the pay of Bradford Council’s chief executive and its average worker has widened, new figures show.

Councils are required each year to publish the salary of their biggest earner and compare this to their average wage.

This year, Bradford Council has revealed that the authority’s highest-paid staff member, chief executive Kersten England, is paid 9.1 times more than the average council worker - a slight rise on last year's figure.

Ms England’s current salary is £182,064, with a nationally-set one per cent pay rise due next month.

In comparison, the authority’s median wage is £19,939, while the lowest paid Council workers get just over £15,000 a year.

Ms England is currently at an investment conference in Cannes, France, but a spokesman for the Council defended the top salary, saying: “The role of chief executive is a big job with significant and far-reaching responsibilities, including promoting the district’s interests to Government, businesses and investors.

“It requires difficult decisions to be made on a daily basis and 24/7 commitment.

“Bradford Council’s wages are comparable with salaries for similar jobs in other councils and the chief executive’s salary was subject to a national pay freeze for eight years.

“A recent senior management restructure at Bradford Council has saved a further £182,000 a year, in addition to the £1.3 million saved on senior management costs since 2010.”

The leader of the opposition Conservative group, Councillor Simon Cooke, said he had no objection to the wage packet.

He said: “I take the view that pay rates are set in markets and if we want the best people we have got to pay them properly.”

He said he knew of much smaller authorities who were paying their chief executives similar amounts.

But the leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, disagreed.

She said in her view the Council was paying senior staff too much, especially at a time when it was “shrinking in size considerably”.

She said: “I just don’t think it is market forces. I think we are above the market.”

Labour Council leader, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, said as one of the country’s largest local authorities, they paid the going rate for a chief executive.

She added: “We all want to keep management costs as low as possible. Whilst Labour has been in leadership in Bradford we’ve managed to reduce spending on senior management by £1.3 million.”

Ms England is the lead chief executive for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority on the issue of inclusive growth, which champions an economic system where people at all levels benefit from wealth generation, rather than one where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Earlier this month, Bradford recently hosted a conference on the topic, during which Bradford Council committed to doing more to help its lowest paid employees.

Yesterday, the Council spokesman insisted it was making progress, saying: “We are working with our neighbouring authorities across the Leeds City Region to make this a reality and help build an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

“Bradford Council has already introduced the living wage which means better living standards for our lowest paid workers and we do not have zero hours contracts for any of our employees.

“We have also signed up to a West Yorkshire-wide agreement to improve conditions for low paid staff.”