Yet Kerswell was far from being the highest-paid council staffer in south London.
That’s according to figures published in the latest Town Hall Rich List, which show that under Kerswell, in 2024-2025 Croydon Council had 21 employees being paid £100,000 or more.
That’s significantly fewer than when Kerswell took over in 2020. Her empire-building predecessor, Jo Negrini, had had 29 directors on £100,000+ salaries in 2020-2021.
But as Kerswell went into her final months in charge, we now know that there were more “corporate directors” on top-scale salaries, earning more than ever under Kerswell, according to the figures compiled by the Tax-Payers’ Alliance: seven Croydon staff were being paid £150,000 or more by March 2025.
And of those, three execs were being paid £200,000 per year, or more.
Throughout Kerswell’s time in charge, Croydon Council had debts of £1.4billion, burdened with ever-rising interest rates and debt repayments. Between 2022 and 2026, Council Tax paid by Croydon residents increased by 33%, to record levels. All but a small percentage of households in the borough now pay £2,000 per year in Council Tax.
The price of failures: how the council’s top earners ranked in 2024-2025
Despite having so many highly paid directors, since 2020, Croydon has also been under the financial oversight of an external “improvement” panel, and more recently under government-appointed Commissioners. Over its time in Croydon, the “improvement” panel – which in four years delivered no discernable improvements – expanded to six members and is estimated to have cost Croydon residents close to £1million.
The four Commissioners each cost Croydon Council Tax-payers at least £1,000 per day for their experience and advice. There has been no reductions in the pay of the council directors whose work they oversee, nor deductions from their wage packets.
The 2026 Town Hall Rich List is the first for three years to include full details of top salaries from Croydon Council. The Tax-Payers’ Alliance, the shadowy, Tufton Street organisation which compiles the Town Hall Rich List, was denied signed-off council accounts throughout Kerswell’s time as Croydon CEO.
That appears conveniently so for Kerswell, whose salary had until now been publicly listed as £204,000, following a pay rise handed to her by Tory Mayor Jason Perry in early 2025.
Kerrching!: Croydon issued three S114 notices under Kerswell (right), including one while Tory Mayor Jason Perry was in charge. But Perry handed her pay rises and a £50,000 gold handshake
Kerswell’s salary was clearly not performance-related.
The government appointed Commissioners to oversee Croydon’s management last July, not long after Kerswell’s council had requested £132million more in emergency funding from Whitehall.
By October 2025, Kerswell was exiting the revolving doors at Fisher’s Folly, helped on her way with a £50,000 “golden handshake”, another “reward for failure” that was approved by Mayor Perry, so that she did not need to work out her notice period.
According to the Town Hall Rich List, Croydon’s top earners, including pension contributions, in 2024-2025 were:
£223,838 Katherine Kerswell (chief executive officer and head of service)
£208,952 Susmita Sen (corporate director of housing), including £39,348 pension
£202,234 Annette McPartland (corporate director, adult social care and health), with £38,083 pension contributions
£189,516 Elaine Jackson (assistant CEO), including £36,514 pension
£174,813 Jane West (finance director)
£164,151 Debbie Jones (children’s services)
£154,394 Nick Hibberd (“corporate director of sustainable communities, regeneration and economic recovery”, oh yeah!), including £29,074 pension
Those on salaries above £100,000, but below that £150,000 threshold, are not identified by name. According to the Town Hall Rich List, there were no bonuses paid to any of Croydon’s top earners.
Jones left Croydon Council in March 2025. She was 75. Hibberd left Croydon in January 2025 (to become CEO at Bristol City Council), which suggests that his £154,394 was three-quarters of his full salary.
£288,705: Ade Adetsoye, Bromley’s very well-paid CEO
The 2026 Town Hall Rich List is the 20th edition of the exercise, which is based on local authorities’ published and audited accounts. Using the dual excuses of covid emergency and the council’s financial collapse, Croydon’s accounts had not been signed off by its auditors in a timely manner since 2021-2022, meaning that the figures were not readily available while Kerswell was running the council.
According to the TPA, nationally, the number of council bosses receiving more than £100,000 in 2024-2025 was 4,733, “the highest level since this dataset was first published in 2007 and 827 more than last year’s edition”.
The TPA says, “This is an increase of over 21% on last year, as council wage bills continue to grow…
“The number of staff receiving over £150,000 has also hit a record high of 1,255. This is a 14.9% increase from last year.”
£298,599: Althea Loderick, CEO at Southwark Council
The figures from neighbouring boroughs show that Conservative-controlled Bromley paid its chief executive, Ade Adetosoye, £288,705 (including £23,113 into his pension pot). Adetosoye oversees 27 staff paid £100,000-plus, including seven on more than £150,000.
In local MP Steve Reed OBE’s old stomping ground, Labour-controlled Lambeth, during a year of turmoil at Brixton Town Hall, there were six people paid £200,000 or more, and a total of
55
staff who were paid £100,000 or more.
Southwark, also Labour-run, paid its chief exec, Althea Loderick, a stonking £298,599 (including £48,375 in pension) in 2024-2025.
Southwark revealed that included in that total, Loderick received £14,249 for “electoral duties”. Council CEO’s routinely collect extra fees when working as returning officer for elections, local, regional and national.
Southwark had
57
staff being paid £100,000 or more in that year.
In LibDem-controlled Sutton, Helen Bailey was paid £243,489 (including £37,926 pensions).
£205,398: Richard Simpson, working in Sutton, still under investigation over his time in Croydon
The second-highest paid exec in Sutton is Richard Simpson, the finance director, who remains under investigation by CIPFA, his professional body, for his role in the Brick by Brick scandal that bankrupted Croydon.
Simpson continues in gainful employment, on £205,398 (including £32,789 in pensions).
Sutton has just 17 employees on £100,000 pa or more, and only three of them – Bailey, Simpson and Nick Ireland (“strategic director – people services”) – in the £200,000-plus bracket.
Back in Croydon, and despite Kerswell’s departure, her spirit lives on, with an ad placed last week for a £200,000 per year finance director to join the top team at bankrupt Fisher’s Folly.
Trebles all-round!
Read more: Council rushes through £200,000 finance job ahead of elections
Read more: Commissioners: council lacks focus and robust delivery plans
Read more: Kerswell takes another pay-off as she quits as council’s CEO
Read more: Council’s agency staff bill includes £726 PER HOUR consultant
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