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Pay rise for Barnet councillors
8:44am Friday 11th July 2008
Comments (17)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."
Your Say YourTimes Series
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
2:20pm Fri 11 Jul 08
Very intersting comments (no green ink here mate) and some well made points. Whilst I don't have a problem with councillors receiving allowanced for extra council work (real work that is), I don't see why the Taxpayer should pay an allowance for a "Chief Whip". Surely this just means she's being paid to do work for the party?
Surely if Barnet has it's own independant panel that is even more people being paid to do nothing useful? It seems Barnet needs a "panel" for everything. I really don't think that it is right for MP's or Councillors to have a vote on their own package and I agree with Dan that this is a scandal.
Larry, London says...
2:22pm Fri 11 Jul 08
Petrol prices are sky high, bills are going through the roof, residents in every part of the borough are struggling, but at least our elected representatives have their snouts in the troughs. Great news.
Don't Call Me Dave, Snouts in the Troughsville says...
3:06pm Fri 11 Jul 08
According to the Guardian (no Rog, I have not converted!) none of Barnets three MPs voted in the recent debate on Members allowances. I am sure they must all have had good reasons for their non attendance in the Commons, but equally I am sure that local residents would be interested to know how the MPs would have voted had they been present. Perhaps the prospective candidates at the next election would also let us know how they would have voted?
John Craddock, New Barnet says...
8:43pm Fri 11 Jul 08
Am I correct in thinking that we pay his corpulent cab costs on top of this figure?
Don't Call Me Dave, Right behind you says...
9:38pm Fri 11 Jul 08
nighthawk9, colindale says...
9:16am Sat 12 Jul 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
3:50pm Sat 12 Jul 08
Daniel Hope, Barnet says...
3:52pm Sat 12 Jul 08
Rog T wrote:It gets even worse, Andreas 'henchman' Tambourides made a very bold statement justifying his four jobs and massive allowances claim that he's required to attend daytime hearings. From a search of the minutes on the Council's website I can only find ONE, yes ONE, time he attended a Licencing hearing during the day. Also there were no meetings at all from February to June. £2k for one daytime meeting, that's real snouts in the trough. I am sure he will correct me if I am wrong on this.
Dan,
Very intersting comments (no green ink here mate) and some well made points. Whilst I don't have a problem with councillors receiving allowanced for extra council work (real work that is), I don't see why the Taxpayer should pay an allowance for a "Chief Whip". Surely this just means she's being paid to do work for the party?
Surely if Barnet has it's own independant panel that is even more people being paid to do nothing useful? It seems Barnet needs a "panel" for everything. I really don't think that it is right for MP's or Councillors to have a vote on their own package and I agree with Dan that this is a scandal.
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
6:51pm Sat 12 Jul 08
It seems we are awaiting rather a lot of corrections from defenders of the indefensible. Needless to say well just get a few more insults, but I suspect that rather like me, that really only makes you want to dig a bit deeper.
Don't Call Me Dave, People's Republic of Barnet says...
9:46pm Sat 12 Jul 08
Cllr Hillan says that councillors work long hours. Well tell us exactly what it is that you do and let us be the judge of whether your allowances are fair and reasonable. Explain to us, for we are simple folk, why it is that a backbench councillor with no special responsibilities whatsoever is entitled to £9,500 a year when a few years ago the same councillor would have received £350. What did you do Cllr Hillan for your £30,000?
If we are to have professional councillors, then let us have a proper debate about it - but ultimately let the people decide what they want because we have never been consulted. A very large number of councillors are receiving full time pay for what is supposed to be a part time job. Actually, it is not a job. We all know that the officers do the work.
Prior to the implementation of the Local Government Act 2000, all councillors had a role to play - even opposition members. Decisions were taken by committees and everyone knew what was going on. Now, a handful of councillors have some limited power, but most have none. Why do we need 63 councillors?
In the old days, the public would contact their councillor because a paving stone or street light was broken or they wanted access to council services. These days, you can contact the council direct through an efficient telephone system (credit where its due) or by e-mail. Most councillors are redundant and we certainly dont need to pay £9,500 for some glorified messengers.
So which councillor will be brave enough to open up their diary so that we can see where our money is going?
Daniel Hope, Barnet says...
12:36am Sun 13 Jul 08
Don\'t Call Me Dave wrote:I hope Don't Call Me Dave isn't holding his breath for Councillors to come forward with their diaries open.
Rather than just concentrate on the amount councillors pay themselves, perhaps this thread can be widened to include a discussion about what it is they do for the money and what it is we expect from them.
Cllr Hillan says that councillors work long hours. Well tell us exactly what it is that you do and let us be the judge of whether your allowances are fair and reasonable. Explain to us, for we are simple folk, why it is that a backbench councillor with no special responsibilities whatsoever is entitled to £9,500 a year when a few years ago the same councillor would have received £350. What did you do Cllr Hillan for your £30,000?
If we are to have professional councillors, then let us have a proper debate about it - but ultimately let the people decide what they want because we have never been consulted. A very large number of councillors are receiving full time pay for what is supposed to be a part time job. Actually, it is not a job. We all know that the officers do the work.
Prior to the implementation of the Local Government Act 2000, all councillors had a role to play - even opposition members. Decisions were taken by committees and everyone knew what was going on. Now, a handful of councillors have some limited power, but most have none. Why do we need 63 councillors?
In the old days, the public would contact their councillor because a paving stone or street light was broken or they wanted access to council services. These days, you can contact the council direct through an efficient telephone system (credit where its due) or by e-mail. Most councillors are redundant and we certainly dont need to pay £9,500 for some glorified messengers.
So which councillor will be brave enough to open up their diary so that we can see where our money is going?
He is right in that I am not interested, per se, in the amounts claimed but more in what we get for that. If this bunch were like other good strong Conservative Council where all of the Councillors were full engaged in the work of turning around services, challenging the bureacracy then their salaries would not be an issue.
The government has actually had to find work for these Councillors to do now through ridiculous initiatives like "Councillors Call for Action" which will turn Councillors from being in charge to 'community campaigners'.
So let's have some named Councillor's coming forward and opening up their books.
Bill, Barnet says...
11:03am Mon 14 Jul 08
Good luck to them.
It's the only option in the face of such an unfair, lop-sided system.
Duncan Macdonald, High Barnet says...
4:23pm Mon 14 Jul 08
Monday evening attended the Hadley Residents AGM
Tuesday evening Read through the paperwork for Corporate JNCC Committee the following evening.
Wednesday evening Corporate JNCC. I also should have been at a school governors meeting but it clashed with the JNCC. I also wanted to attend Barnet FCs launch of the Kickz programme but that clashed as well.
Thursday evening. Group meeting to discuss who will be speaking on the various debates at the following weeks council meeting.
Friday evening - Met with resident who had asked me to deal with a housing issue.
Saturday Afternoon - My surgery. A number of items of casework to follow up including a council tax arrears issue and some work on future plans for the Countryside centre in my ward.
Sunday afternoon. - catching up with emails and other correspondence.
In all I probably spent about 15 hours on Council related work. I agree that the cabinet system is awful and that SRAs should not be stacked up. However I do think that Councillors can be advocates for their residents and can make a difference. Its the kind of job that is what you make of it. You can do the absolute minimum and coast along and in many parts of the borough if you are in the right party you will get re-elected regardless.
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
6:30pm Mon 14 Jul 08
Why am I not surprised that it was a Lib-Dem who posted his diary. I must say that our Lib-Dems Wayne Casey & Jeremy Davies are good value for money. John Hart (Tory) is also a good guy who is Mill Hill through and through, even if he does talk nonsense about rates appeals. I think the marginal nature of Mill Hill ward probably stimulates a bit of hard work all round, which is no bad thing. As Duncan says it is the wards where a donkey could stand that probably get the worst lazy wotsits.
Also it is most likely that it'll only be the good guys who will come clean here.
danhope, Barnet says...
11:35pm Wed 16 Jul 08
DuncanMacdonald, High Barnet says...
11:42am Thu 17 Jul 08
The Job has plenty of 'function' but no way other than the ballot box for removing ineffective Cllr's
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Daniel Hope, Barnet says...
12:54pm Fri 11 Jul 08
Just a few thoughts.
Firstly if Alison Moore believes she is getting overpaid, there is a simple solution at her fingertips. The Local Government Act 2000 gives gives Councillors the right to not claim some or all of their allowances, let us see if she takes that up.
Mr Tambourides unsurprising spouts nonsense, giving the impressions that working for hours upon hours, especially on daytime meetings. A cursory inspection of public minutes show this not to be the case (except for a small handful), of which he is not one.
I simply do not believe Ms Hillans comments. Let her publish her diary for the past six months and let others see the 'long hours' that justify the huge piles of cash she claims in allowances. Maybe she can also explain why she demanded that her allowance as Chief Whip should be increased ABOVE what the 'independent' panel had set? And why she used Conservative Councillors to vote, as a block, to override the panel and award her a special pay rise?
Barnet's arrangements for allowances have an acrid stench. Why does Barnet have it's own 'independent' panel when most London Councils rely on the London Panel to set expenses? Why are Councillor allowed to keep piling on job on another? Why are so many of the Council on the 'payroll' against Government advice. This has a real 'snouts in the trough' feel to it.
Councillors are now paid over £1,000,000 a year in allowances, from the Council Tax, and there is very little to show for it, in my view. Despite increasing their pay they keep abdicating their duties to Officers and hardly make any decisions fewer and fewer meetings are taking place. Under the previous system allowances were nominal and Councillors debated and decided on all of the Council's work.
To coin a phrase "Never before in local government have so many been paid so much for so little".
P.S. Before the usual green inkers emerge I regularly spent half a week on Council work, having the highest attendance record of all Conservative Councillors for at least 2 years, going to meetings that I wasn't a Committee member of to keep up abreast and receiving on average roughly £13,000 a year.