THE number of high-paid officers at some Sussex councils has increased despite five years of multi-million pound cuts to frontline services, The Argus can reveal.

Four county, district and borough councils have increased the number of employees earning more than £50,000 a year, including East Sussex County Council which had 195 high-pay staff in 2015-16 compared with 140 in 2010-11.

At more than half of the county’s councils the proportion of high-paid management roles has increased as thousands of other jobs have been axed.

There are now 35 council officers earning £100,000 a year across the county – down from 38 five years ago.

Union bosses warned councils were in danger of becoming so top heavy with management they were likely to “fall over”.

In total, more than 7,700 council staff have gone since 2010-11 – the equivalent of around one in four jobs.

In contrast just 51 of 878 £50,000-a-year jobs have gone – a cut of five per cent.

Adur and Worthing, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove councils have the highest proportion of high paid officers with almost one in 20 members of staff earning at least £50,000 a year.

At the other end of the spectrum, only about one in 50 staff at East Sussex and Hastings councils earned wages above that amount.

High-paid officers now make up one in every 29 council staff members in Sussex compared with one in 36 five years ago.

Mark Turner is GMB branch secretary at Brighton and Hove City Council where there were just 15 fewer £50,000 posts in 2015-16 than 2010-11 despite a loss of 823 jobs.

He said: “These figures show the lower paid staff taking the burden of the cuts. There is not a proportionate [effect] across the spectrum and clearly we are not all in it together.

“The council is in danger of becoming so top heavy it will fall over.

“The way it is going you will have an administrative centre full of high-paid staff who are faceless to the public.”

John O’Connell, Tax Payers’ Alliance chief executive, said: “Necessary savings are having to be found and councils must do everything they can to keep costs down and that includes looking at the salaries of bosses.”

An East Sussex County Council spokeswoman said in recent years it had reduced the number of senior managers at the council by a quarter but with salaries increasing in line with nationally agreed pay awards, 87 members of staff had wage packets rise above the £50,000 threshold.

She added all staff were paid in line with the average pay grade for those doing similar jobs in the public sector in the South East to ensure the council could attract the best candidates.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said the figures did not show an increase in management numbers but the impact of a pay award of 2.2 per cent applied in April 2015, taking a number of staff just over the £50,000-a-year threshold.

The spokesman added: “We are continuing to review our operating structures in light of the challenging financial landscape.”