Pay multiple

Wakefield Council pay multiple, defined as the ratio between the highest paid taxable earnings for the given year (including base salary, variable pay, bonuses, allowances and the cash value of any benefits-in-kind) and the median earnings figure of the whole of the authority’s workforce.

The measure:

• covers all elements of remuneration that can be valued (eg. all taxable earnings for the given year, including base salary, variable pay, bonuses, allowances and the cash value of any benefits-in-kind)
• uses the median earnings figure as the denominator, which should be that of all employees of the local authority on a fixed date each year, coinciding with reporting at the end of the financial year, and
• excludes changes in pension benefits, which due to their variety and complexity cannot be accurately included in a pay multiple disclosure.

Publishing this information annually is a requirement of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.