TaxPayers’ Alliance, Town Hall Rich List 2021 – Croydon 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