A departing Staffordshire County Council officer received an exit package totalling £455,000.

The unnamed officer received the payment after leaving the authority in 2024/25, according to the county council's accounts.

A new report from the Taxpayers' Alliance says that the officer was the 'highest remunerated' council employee in the country in 2024/25.

The council's accounts do not say what position the former officer held, or under what circumstances they left the authority.

A non-disclosure agreement covering the departure means the council is unable to comment on the matter.

The TPA's annual 'Town Hall Rich List' report compiles information on council officer pay which authorities are required to publish as part of their accounts.

According to the report, Staffordshire chief executive Patrick Flaherty was the second highest paid council employee in the West Midlands in 2024/25, behind the unnamed officer, receiving total remuneration of £263,544.

This total includes salary along with pension contributions.

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A total of 17 non-teaching county council employees received more than £100,000 remuneration, excluding pension contributions, in 2024/25, down from 21 in the previous year.

The 2024/25 figures cover the year before 2025's local elections, which saw Reform UK take control of the county council and promise to cut wasteful spending.

County council leader Martin Murray said: "As a county council, we want to attract and retain the very best staff to help deliver our ambitions for the county and to safeguard public services.

"The salaries paid are in line with similar senior local authority roles in the country and we would expect this to be repaid many times over in the benefits delivered for this council and for the people we serve."

According to the TPA, a record 4,733 council employees across the country received over £100,000 remuneration in 2024/25.

This includes 20 at Stoke-on-Trent City Council and a further 40 at Staffordshire's eight district and borough councils.

TPA chief executive John O'Connell 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."