A MANCHESTER hospital boss's record pay package is £30,000 more than Gordon Brown's.

Bob Pearson, medical director of Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust, received £220,000 in the last year.

And the trust's chief executive, Mike Deegan, took home £190,000 which just beats the prime minister's £189,994 by £6 a year.

According to a new rich list, Steve Broomhead, chief executive of the North West Regional Development Agency, also beat Mr Brown with a salary of £190,000 including bonuses and pensions.

The two men are among 194 public sector employees who are earning more than Mr Brown at a time when most families are suffering in the financial crisis.

Low-tax

The list of `fat cats' was drawn up by the low-tax pressure group The TaxPayers' Alliance who say that four people on the public payroll earned more than £1m in the last year.

They include Network Rail boss Ian Coucher (£1.2m), Royal Mail's Adam Crozier (£1.2m) and Channel Four's Andy Duncan (£1.2m).

This compares with the pay of an average soldier of £20,700, nurse, £23,174 and police officer £24,000.

The list was published as Chancellor Alistair Darling promised the next Labour government would introduce a new tax rate for people earning £150,000-a-year or more.

According to the TaxPayers' Alliance there are 387 public sector employees earning over this amount.

Failure

Matthew Elliott, the alliance's chief executive, said that while families were feeling the pinch a public sector elite was enjoying record pay packages - even, in some cases, where they have had bad publicity.

He said: "We all deserve to know how our money is being spent and people should have the right to decide if they are getting value for money. Public services will never improve if people are being rewarded for failure."

According to the list, Peter Fahy, new chief constable of Greater Manchester, is on £164,000 a year, excluding bonuses and expenses.

Bernice Law, executive director of operations at the North West Regional Development Agency, was paid £151,200 and Jill Heaton, of the Central Manchester Trust, was paid £150,000 as executive director of patient services and chief nurse.