The council’s chief executive earned more than the Prime Minister last year despite taking a pay cut.

Lambeth’s Derrick Anderson was paid £211,323 between 2008-09, having accepted a 3.4 per cent decrease in pay.

He was the 11th highest paid senior council officer on the Tax Payers’ Alliance’s Town Hall Rich List, published online.

A council spokesman said: “Lambeth is open and transparent about what it pays its senior staff and all this information is published on our website.

“Lambeth's chief executive volunteered to take a pay cut of more than 3 per cent this year.”

While Mr Anderson’s pay decreased, two more Lambeth employees saw their names added to the list, bringing the borough’s total to 12.

Only one other officer, Jonathan Williams - divisional director for corporate finance - saw a decrease in pay.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Tax Payers’ Alliance, said: “Lambeth tax payers will be amazed to learn the council's chief executive is paid such a massive amount of money.

"It's good that his pay fell last year but he is still earning a fair bit more than the Prime Minister.”

The list, now in its fourth edition, publishes the salaries of all council workers in Britain earning more than £100,000.

The information was obtained by the Tax Payers’ Alliance via Freedom of Information requests. Not all authorities responded to the request.

While Lambeth does publish the figures on its website, many authorities do not, leading the group to call for stronger laws requiring councils to make their salaries public after previous attempts were watered down.