SEVERAL public sector chiefs in Dorset are earning salaries larger than or comparable to the Prime Minister’s.

A BBC Panorama investigation, screened last night, revealed that there are more than 9,000 public workers in the UK earning more than David Cameron’s £142,500-a-year.

NHS bosses top the list of big earners in Dorset, as they do in many other areas of the country.

Tony Spotswood, chief executive of the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Trust, earns between £171,000 and £175,000.

Elsewhere in the NHS, Poole Hospital chief executive, Chris Bown, earns £150,000 a year, while Dorset Healthcare Trust boss Roger Browning receives up to £125,000.

Dorset County Council leads the way for local authorities, with its five top officers on salaries of £119,000 upwards.

Chief executive David Jenkins’s pay from April 1 was £164,306.

A county council spokesman said: “The council is the largest public sector employer in Dorset and has a budget running into hundreds of millions of pounds, so the chief executive role has huge responsibility.

“We pay at the necessary level to attract and retain suitable candidates in a very competitive market.”

At Bournemouth council, chief executive Pam Donnellan is paid £125,373, with John McBride at Poole council paid up to £124,951.

Martin Baker, chief constable of Dorset Police, saw his pay rise to £133,068 this month.

In the education sector, at least one headteacher in Dorset earns £120,000.

Several senior medical staff in the NHS also pick up salaries in director roles.

Their combined earnings can exceed £200,000, as in the case of Dr Laurence Mynors-Wallis, a consultant psychiatrist and medical director of the Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said it was not necessary for the public sector to offer “stupendous amounts” to keep pace with the private sector.

Dave Prentis, general secretary for Unison, the public sector workers’ union, blasted the gap between the top earners and the rank-and-file employees.

“Two-thirds of local government workers earn less than £21,000 a year and are facing a three-year pay freeze,” he said.

The Panorama investigation found 38,000 public sector employees were paid over £100,000, including GPs, teachers and senior civil servants.