Pay rise for Barnet councillors (From Times Series)

Pay rise for Barnet councillors

8:44am Friday 11th July 2008

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Barnet councillors enjoyed generous pay rises in the last financial year, with many collecting thousands of pounds more in allowances.

Council leader Mike Freer took home more than £42,750 in the year ending March 2008, a hike of more than £6,000 on the year before.

All Barnet councillors were paid a basic allowance of £9,500, up from £9,081 in the year ending March 2007.

The majority also received Special Responsibility Allow-ances (SRA) for their involvement in committees, cabinet posts or roles within their political group, and these rose by as much as 22 per cent.

The SRA for cabinet members and Labour leader Councillor Alison Moore, climbed by more than £3,000 to £16,625.

Some local authorities limit councillors to claiming one SRA, but in March last year Barnet councillors voted to stack up their SRAs, allowing those with multiple responsibilities to earn thousands of pounds more.

Ms Moore, whose overall pay packet rose to £28,500, was one of those to benefit but said she was not in favour of the change.

"Most councillors take their roles very seriously," she said. "But there is a growing sense that this move was out of proportion and more about political patronage than giving Barnet residents value for money."

Tory councillor Lynne Hillan said that the hike was justified because Barnet councillors previously had some of the lowest allowances in London.

She said: "The allowance is important because you have to work long hours and you expect to be compensated. That's the way you attract good councillors.

"We take on extra jobs that will take an awful lot of time and if you were working in the private sector you would be earning five or six times that amount."

A councillor's job is not full time, although the average councillor spends at least half a normal working week on council business, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Yet Government guidelines in 2003 urged authorities to be cautious about issuing SRAs.

It states: "If the majority of members of a council receive a special responsibility allowance the local electorate may rightly question whether this was justified."

In Barnet, 84 per cent of councillors claimed additional allowances; only ten missed out.

Conservative councillor Andreas Tambourides earned just under £26,600. He has four SRAs, including one for chairing the licensing committee and another for being a member of the licensing committee.

He said: "There's a lot of work that's got to be done by members and you have to attend hearings in the day. There's a large commitment on their part.

"Other authorities are given larger allowances. You have to look at the level of service provided and that is reflected in our allowances."

About 2,000 council workers from the public sector union Unison are to strike next Wednesday and Thursday after rejecting an offer of a 2.5 per cent pay increase this year.

John Burgess, Barnet Unison secretary, said: "I never want to do down an increase in pay, but I'd like to see equality for council staff.

"If it's good enough for councillors, I'd expect them to support our negotiations."

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