Category: TaxPayers’ Alliance

Croydon adding insult to taxpayer injury with the highest paid executive, and once again leading the list of local boroughs with executives paid over £100K, according to report.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance have issued their 2022 Town Hall Rich List of council employees in the UK in receipt of over £100,000 in total remuneration.  The list covers the financial year 2020-21, covering the period since residents have seen services cut following the issuing of a Section 114 notice, when the council declared de facto bankruptcy.  It’s not hard to see why the council ended up in this position when despite years of complaining about a lack of funding, and years of maximum council tax increases, Croydon Council had 29 staff earning over £100,000 a year (up from 19 the previous year), and with the former chief executive, Jo Negrini, receiving the highest remuneration of any council employee in the country at £613,895, which included a loss of office payment of £144,356 and a pension strain payment of £292,851.

To put the overall Croydon figures into context, neighbouring Sutton had just 14 staff whose remuneration exceeded £100,000.  Merton 12, Tandridge 1, and Reigate & Banstead 1.  Whilst our inner London neighbours Lambeth 27 staff and Lewisham 19 (both fewer than Croydon), Barnet a similar sized borough made do with just 8 staff on over £100K.  Some of the numbers for Croydon indicate the high turnover of staff, but surely during a period of front-line staff losing their roles, and lost services for the public, something and certainly more should have been done to control executive pay.

When we reviewed the TaxPayers’ Alliance Town Hall Rich List for 2021, we asked how when private sector organisations often benchmark salaries against other similar organisations the council clearly did not. Within the council, schools are required to benchmark themselves on a range of financial measures against other similar schools.  When the council requires emergency government funding, and undertakes a fire sale of assets like the Croydon Park Hotel sold at a £5 million loss, how is it possible for the council to be so blind to the pay of its own executives?

With a crumbling town centre, Purley Swimming Pool closed, libraries’ opening days reduced, rent increases, Council Tax increases, damning audit reports, and some council tenants living in squalor, how can it be acceptable that at £613,895 Croydon Council’s former chief executive Jo Negrini, received the highest remuneration of any council employee in the country?

With local elections in May, we ask Croydon residents to ask those seeking re-election, how they can justify their council tax payments being spent this way, and how with this track record of oversight they can justify being returned to office?

Croydon Council Pay over £100,000, 2020-21:

Name	Job title	Salary	Loss of office	Pension strain payments	Sub total	Pension	Total
Jo Negrini	Chief executive	£151,474	£144,356	£292,851	£588,681	£25,214	£613,895
	Undisclosed	£207,500			£207,500		£207,500
Lisa Taylor	Finance, investment and risk and interim s151 officer	£162,134			£162,134	£39,968	£202,102
Shifa Mustafa	Executive director, place	£156,060			£156,060	£40,888	£196,948
Jacquline Harris-Baker	Executive director of resources and monitoring officer	£156,060			£156,060	£40,888	£196,948
	Undisclosed	£192,500			£192,500		£192,500
Guy van Dichele	Executive director (interim) of health, wellbeing & adults	£150,411			£150,411	£36,505	£186,916
Hazel Simmonds	Executive director of gateway, strategy & engagement	£137,700			£137,700	£36,077	£173,777
	Undisclosed	£147,500			£147,500		£147,500
	Undisclosed	£137,500			£137,500		£137,500
	Undisclosed	£137,500			£137,500		£137,500
	Undisclosed	£137,500			£137,500		£137,500
	Undisclosed	£137,500			£137,500		£137,500
Katherine Kerswell	Chief executive	£105,326			£105,326	£27,595	£132,921
	Undisclosed	£132,500			£132,500		£132,500
	Undisclosed	£127,500			£127,500		£127,500
	Undisclosed	£117,500			£117,500		£117,500
	Undisclosed	£117,500			£117,500		£117,500
	Undisclosed	£117,500			£117,500		£117,500
	Undisclosed	£117,500			£117,500		£117,500
	Undisclosed	£117,500			£117,500		£117,500
	Undisclosed	£117,500			£117,500		£117,500
	Undisclosed	£117,500			£117,500		£117,500
	Undisclosed	£117,500			£117,500		£117,500
	Undisclosed	£112,500			£112,500		£112,500
	Undisclosed	£107,500			£107,500		£107,500
	Undisclosed	£107,500			£107,500		£107,500
	Undisclosed	£102,500			£102,500		£102,500
	Undisclosed	£102,500			£102,500		£102,500

Full Report: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/taxpayersalliance/pages/17477/attachments/original/1648806766/Town_Hall_Rich_List_2022.pdf?1648806766

Council-by-council breakdown of data: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.nationbuilder.com%2Ftaxpayersalliance%2Fpages%2F17477%2Fattachments%2Foriginal%2F1648806321%2FTown_Hall_Rich_List_2022.xlsx%3F1648806321&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

Press Release:

Croydon leading the list of local boroughs with executives paid over £100K, according to report.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance have issued their 2021 Town Hall Rich List of council employees in the UK in receipt of over £100,000 in total remuneration.  The list covers the financial year 2019-20, and since then we have seen Croydon Council issue a Section 114 notice, declaring de facto bankruptcy.  It’s not hard to see why the council ended up in this position when despite years of complaining about a lack of funding, and years of maximum council tax increases, Croydon Council still had 19 people earning over £100,000 a year, with six people whose remuneration exceeded the salary of the Prime Minister.

To put this in context, neighbouring Bromley had just 9 staff whose remuneration exceeded £100,000.  Sutton had 10 staff, Merton 9, Tandridge 2, and Reigate & Banstead 6.  Whilst our inner London neighbours Lambeth had 18 and Lewisham 15 (both fewer than Croydon), Barnet a similar sized borough made do with just 9 staff on over £100K.

Private sector organisations often benchmark salaries against other similar organisations.  Indeed, within the council, schools are required to benchmark themselves on a range of financial measures against others similar schools.  We wonder if it has ever benchmarked their own executive salaries, and if it has, what conclusions they drew?  We can see why Croydon Council’s external auditors Grant Thornton described the situation at the council as follows:  “There has been collective corporate blindness to both the seriousness of the financial position and the urgency with which actions needed to be taken”.

The current council leader, and others in the cabinet were in the cabinet at the time these bumper salaries were being paid out.  What were they doing to control council expenses?  Of course we now know those councillors were in receipt of the highest average allowance in London.

Many things have changed at Croydon Council but the latest figures still show 16 people being paid over £100,000 and two on more than the nation’s Prime Minister.  Deep cuts are being made to front line jobs and services, can we say that is being reflected in the salaries of those at the top?

As council tax bills are landing in people homes, the people of Croydon who will pay for the mismanagement of the council budget have the right to ask, why we are being expected to once again pay more, when the those at the top of the council seem to be so well rewarded.

Croydon Council Pay over £100,000, 2019-20:

Council	Name	Job title	Salary	Sub total	Pension	Total
Croydon	Jo Negrini	Chief executive	£189,165	£189,165	£29,193	£218,358
Croydon	Guy Van Dichele	Executive director (interim) of health, wellbeing & adults	£197,171	£197,171	£11,983	£209,154
Croydon	Shifa Mustafa	Executive director, place	£156,060	£156,060	£24,085	£180,145
Croydon	Jacqueline Harris-Baker	Executive director of resources and monitoring officer	£153,936	£153,936	£23,795	£177,731
Croydon	Robert Henderson	Executive director of children, families & education	£148,886	£148,886	£22,986	£171,872
Croydon	Hazel Simmonds	Executive director of gateway, strategy & engagement	£137,700	£137,700	£21,252	£158,952
Croydon		Undisclosed		£157,500		£157,500
Croydon	Lisa Taylor	Director of finance, investment and risk and interim S151 officer	£124,393	£124,393	£19,216	£143,609
Croydon		Undisclosed		£137,500		£137,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£137,500		£137,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£137,500		£137,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£132,500		£132,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£117,500		£117,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£117,500		£117,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£117,500		£117,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£117,500		£117,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£117,500		£117,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£102,500		£102,500
Croydon		Undisclosed		£102,500		£102,500

Full Report: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/taxpayersalliance/pages/17258/attachments/original/1617382775/Town_Hall_Rich_List_2021_Doc.pdf?1617382775

Council-by-council breakdown of data: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/taxpayersalliance/pages/17258/attachments/original/1617382651/Town_Hall_Rich_List_2021_Dataset.xlsx?1617382651

As Croydon goes bankrupt you don’t need to worry about its councillors going short.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance have published a review of local authority councillor allowances – Councillors’ allowances 2020 – TaxPayers’ Alliance.  The report shows people who live just miles apart from each other may be represented by councillors who have similar workloads but are entitled to vastly different allowances.  This is true for the residents of Croydon.

In 2018-19 Croydon’s Councillors received a relatively modest basic allowance £11,407 for these ‘unpaid’ roles, although it should be noted this is the second highest rate in London.  What’s more alarming is when you average the total cost it comes to £21,784 per councillor.  Croydon councillors were the 11^th most expensive of 398 councils across the country and the highest costing in London.

In the same time period neighbouring Sutton (£12,135) and Bromley (£12,111) were both much cheaper coming in 168^th and 169^th in average cost per councillor.  Croydon’s comparatively lavish allowances were being paid whilst the council’s external auditors Grant Thornton were, as recently reported, warning about low reserves and poor financial controls.  You have to wonder how they could justify these allowances whilst asking taxpayers for ever increasing amounts of money.

Since then the council has issued a Section 114 notice and gone into de facto bankruptcy.  After cutting services and making over 400 job cuts Croydon’s councillors have finally shared some of the burden.  On the 16^th December Croydon’s councillors voted to reduce £300,000 from councillor pay from April 2021.  Whilst this is a welcome reduction it will still likely leave Croydon’s councillors in the top 20% best rewarded in the country and top 6 highest rewarded in London.  We ask, does this really reflect the damage Croydon Council’s poor administration has wrought on services in the borough?  Do the people of Croydon think their councillors who oversaw only the second council bankruptcy this century, deserve to be the in the top fifth for reward?

Drastic financial restructuring is needed at Croydon Council.  Services will be cut, regressive council taxes will increase, and likely more employees will lose their roles.  We commend Croydon’s Councillors for cutting £300,000 from their allowances, but this must only be a start.  Along with dramatic cuts for the citizens and staff, councillors should step up to the plate and aim to come in no higher than the average cost per councillor in London, still high for a bankrupt council but a reasonable sacrifice.

We ask Councillors Hamida Ali, and Jason Perry to work on further reducing allowances in Croydon.  Until then whatever else you worry about, as Croydon goes bankrupt, you don’t need to worry about its councillors going short.

“The staggering amount Croydon councillors were paid in allowances last year” – Story in MyLondon https://www.mylondon.news/news/staggering-amount-croydon-councillors-were-19497661

Croydon Council issued a Section 114 notice on Wednesday (11 Nov) afternoon “due to the severe ongoing financial challenges facing the authority.”

News of this is being widely reported including by the BBC – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-54897296

“The Section 114 notice bans all new expenditure at Croydon Council, with the exception of statutory services for protecting vulnerable people”

“£17.7m of the £27.9m of the “new savings” presented to Croydon’s cabinet on 21 September and the full council meeting on 28 September were “incorrectly identified as new savings”

“Croydon’s financial pressures are not all related to the pandemic”. It is under a government review amid claims of “irresponsible spending”

Whilst we have been by no means alone.  In the 2 and a half years the Croydon Constitutionals have been running we have regularly reported on what we have seen as irresponsible spending by the council. 

These concerns have been validated by the recent audit report:

• “There has been collective corporate blindness to both the seriousness of the financial position and the urgency with which actions needed to be taken”
• http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/why-did-they-not-find-out/

Mike wrote a summary of the problems for the TaxPayers’ Alliance:

• Croydon Council – a tale of mismanagement https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/croydon_council_a_tale_of_mismanagement

All of this spending didn’t improve services for the people of Croydon:

• Failing in payments made for Covid – “Croydon Council has found itself in the bottom 10% of payments made by number and by amount” http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/taken-for-grant-aid/
• Investing in Surrey Street Market for worse results – “In the period 2016-2018, permanent traders fell 21% to 23, and causal traders fell 24% to 19. That’s £91,666 of council taxpayers’ money spent per trader lost” https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20190509001746/https://thecroydoncitizen.com/economics-business/can-surrey-street-survive-help-council/

With the TaxPayers’ Alliance and some cross party support we’ve highlighted the high rates of executive pay at the council:

• April 2020 – “In Croydon the report shows we have 23 people who earned over £100,000 last year and 3 who earned more than the Prime Minister…. The London Borough of Barnet, which is about the same size as Croydon makes do with just 7 staff on over £100K” http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/pitch-for-as-much-as-they-think-they-can-get-away-with-and-then-think-what-to-spend-it-on-highlights-from-croydon-council/
• Our campaign for sensible Town Hall salaries – http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/support-our-campaign-for-sensible-town-hall-salaries-tpa-in-selsdon/ with support from representatives of The Foundation Party, The Christian Parties Alliance, The Libertarian Party UK, and the Brexit Party http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/executive-pay-at-croydon-council/
• TPA Town Hall Rich List Roadshows http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/the-taxpayers-alliance-town-hall-rich-list-roadshow-croydon/

Poor commercial property investments have caught up with the council. Rather as we expected them to:

• Croydon Council – Just do your job right http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/just-do-your-job-right/

We didn’t think Croydon Council got value for money for residents:

• “In 2017, payments over £500 from the Cultural Growth Fund totaled £465,733.46 – almost twice the total spent on providing this basic-but-critical service repairing our roads” https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20190508195443/https://thecroydoncitizen.com/politics-society/taxing-conversations-croydon/
• “They spent £200,000 on fixing potholes but £1.1 million on the Surrey Street Market. For five years we could have doubled the pothole spend” https://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/news/croydon-news/spend-croydons-money-fixing-potholes-1910633
• “The £5,000 spent at the Oval Tavern was an expensive round” http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/croydons-cultural-growth-fund-and-community-ward-budgets/
• “Tony Newman and other leading members of the council often complain about the funding that the council receives, the need to protect services, and austerity – as they have done here, here, here and here. However, the case for a lack of funding is somewhat undermined when you can find £160,000 for Boxpark” https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20190508195548/https:/thecroydoncitizen.com/politics-society/price-taking-pride/

We have asked them to tax us less and even found ways to save money:

• “we call on Councillor Tony Newman and Croydon Council to spread some joy in 2019 and make a New Year’s resolution to start looking after Taxpayers money” http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/press-release-a-less-taxing-resolution/
• “Our proposals would bring down the increased tax take by 10% to a 2.69% increase in council tax. This would give more money back to stretched family budgets and remove the impression of a council treating taxpayers like fools” http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/press-release-as-much-as-they-think-they-can-get-away-with/

Don’t just take our word for it we’ve also interviewed Councillor Robert Ward, Councillor Jeet Bains who also spoke with us about planning in Croydon, Councillor Mario Creatura, Chris Philp MP, former Chairman of the Croydon Conservative Federation Alasdair Stewart and council candidate Jayde Edwards.

Things can change in Croydon and Mike spoke about the campaign for a Democratically Elected Mayor of Croydon at one of our events.

For more of our articles and podcasts on the council go to http://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/category/croydon-council/

The decade after the financial crisis has seen many front line public sector and most private sector employees receive below inflation pay rises, with many suffering years of stagnant earnings.

Not so for those at the top of City Hall, delivering value for money from the public purse is of no barrier for their earnings.  The TaxPayers’ Alliance have published their City Hall Rich List 2020 which reveals:

• 654 people employed by the GLA and its subsidiary bodies in 2018-19 received more than £100,000.  154 received over £150,000.
• Transport for London alone has 518 employees on over £100,000.  With 114 on more than £150,000.
• 28 employees received remuneration in excess of a quarter of a million pounds in 2018-19.

Taxpayers have to fund this on top of all the other costly burdens of living in London., with the Mayor having increased the band D council tax precept by just under nine per cent in 2019-20.

London taxpayers are paying Limousine prices for what all too often turns out to be a Reliant Robin service from City Hall.  This is on top of the burden from London’s Borough Councils.  Croydon Council employs more than 23 staff on over £100,000 a year.  Hardworking Taxpayers need a fair deal that protects them as well as rewards staff.

We know the economy has taken a serve hit from Covid 19 and the lockdown.  We ask that City Hall and its subsidiary bodies share the burden with those who pay their wages.  We think it’s reasonable to ask that no new employee in the Metropolitan Police, Greater London Authority, London Fire Brigade or the Mayoral team, be paid more than the Prime Minister.  Those in post were employed in good faith and must retain their salaries, but surely it is not unreasonable in these troubled economic times to say a Deputy commissioner in the London Fire Brigade or a Transformation director in TFL does not need to be paid more than the person running Britain!

We calculate that if this were already the case, just capping the salaries of the top 20 highest paid staff in TFL would save over £3.9 million a year.  A good start to helping council tax payers.

TaxPayers’ Alliance full report – https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/city_hall_rich_list_2020

Coverage in South London Press – https://pages.pagesuite.com/5/b/5be8a065-97de-4289-ae5e-fa5db3d8aed6/page.pdf

Article main image: Daring Donna