SIX Inverclyde Council executives received remuneration packages worth more than £100,000 in one year.

The information was disclosed in the annual UK 'town hall rich list' published by the TaxPayers' Alliance campaign.

According to latest figures, chief executive Aubrey Fawcett was the highest-paid council official during 2017/18 with a total package worth £142,000, which included a basic salary of £118k and pension contributions of almost £23k.

The roles of director of education, communities and organisational development and the boss of environment, regeneration and resources also attracted total pay packets of £127,000.

Both posts come with a £108k salary and pension contributions of £21k.

The chief of the local health and social care partnership was fourth on the local list, earning £119k in total, followed by the head of legal and property services on £106k and the chief financial officer on £105k.

All three positions have basic salaries of less than £100k, with pension contributions of under £20k.

A spokesperson for Inverclyde Council says the figures must be seen in context.

He said: “The TaxPayers' Alliance knows that the bulk of all local government funding originates from the UK Government.

"Cuts in jobs and services are a direct result of cuts in central government funding.

"Laying them at the door of their ‘town hall rich list’ is just a smokescreen.

"The Accounts Commission recently highlighted how funding cuts in Inverclyde have been the most severe in Scotland with over 10% being wiped off the council’s budget.”

The local authority also defended the size of pay packets received by senior officials.

They said: "The chief executive's salary is linked to pay scales approved at a national level by Cosla. "The TaxPayers' Alliance consistently fails to recognise what is involved in providing local government services and also fails to recognise the discrepancy in pay between the public sector and the private sector. "It also regularly takes issue with public servants being paid the going rate for the job that they do.

"By way of comparison the average chief executive officer, running a FTSE 100 company, earned £5.7million in 2017. "The top earning FTSE 100 chief executive took home a £47m pay packet.

"The chief executive of Inverclyde Council is responsible for 3,500 staff and administers a budget of £190m and a capital programme of £71m. "The work the council does touches every part of the everyday lives of every one of the 79,000 people who live in Inverclyde - from the pavements we walk on to the schools where our children are educated."

In Scotland, Mr Fawcett was number 62 in the highest public sector earners with top spot occupied by the deputy chief executive of Perth & Kinross Council who took home £333k.

The single biggest wage alone was for a North Lanarkshire official, who received £273k in a year.

UK-wide, the interim chief executive of Slough Council earned almost £600k.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "There are talented people in the public sector who are trying to deliver more for less, but the sheer scale of these packages raise serious questions about efficiency and priorities."