“They pitch for as much as they think they can get away with and then think what to spend it on” – Highlights from Croydon Council

The TaxPayers’ Alliance’s annual Town Hall Rich List has been released. You can read it in full here.  This shows council employees who received total remuneration in excess of £100,000. The latest is 226 more people than in 2017-18, and the highest number since 2013-14.

Councils talk of austerity and keep ramping up council tax rises.  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.  This is up from the 19 people who earned over £100K the previous year.  The London Borough of Barnet, which is about the same size as Croydon makes do with just 7 staff on over £100K and only 1 earning more than the Prime Minister.  Neighbouring us, Sutton has just 11, Merton 9, Lambeth 16, Bromley 20, Tandridge 1, and Reigate and Banstead 4, on more than £100K.  All below Croydon.  Details of those employees earning over £100K are below.

NameJob titleSalaryCompensation for loss of officeSub total PensionTotal
Jo NegriniChief Executive £188,700 £188,700 £28,494 £217,194
Guy Van DicheleExecutive Director (Interim) of Health, Wellbeing & Adults £215,444 £215,444 £    –   £215,444
Undisclosed £202,500 £202,500 £202,500
Shifa MustafaExecutive Director, Place £153,000 £153,000 £23,103 £176,103
Richard SimpsonExecutive Director of Resources and Section 151 officer £143,892 £143,892 £21,550 £165,442
Undisclosed £152,500 £152,500 £152,500
Eleni LoannidesExecutive Director (Interim) Children, Families and Education £150,000 £150,000 £    –   £150,000
Undisclosed £142,500 £142,500 £142,500
Jacqueline Harris-BakerDirector of Law and Monitoring Officer/Executive Director of Resources and Monitoring Officer £120,080 £120,080 £18,132 £138,212
Undisclosed £127,500 £127,500 £127,500
Barbara PeacockExecutive Director, People £ 67,837 £   53,808 £121,645 £4,228 £125,873
Undisclosed £122,500 £122,500 £122,500
Undisclosed £122,500 £122,500 £122,500
Undisclosed £117,500 £117,500 £117,500
Undisclosed £107,500 £107,500 £107,500
Undisclosed £107,500 £107,500 £107,500
Undisclosed £107,500 £107,500 £107,500
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
Undisclosed £102,500 £102,500 £102,500
Undisclosed £102,500 £102,500 £102,500

If the council isn’t splashing the cash on high paid executives they are spending it on cultural events and local community groups.  Many of these are good causes some less so.  The council publishes their spending over £500.  We’ve reviewed the spend in 2019 and found some particular lowlights like the £105,666 spent on Consultancy Fees for a cost called ‘Brick by Brick Overheads and Admin’.  It total £333,364 was dished out by local councillors in 2019 in amounts over £500 as part of their Community Ward Budgets.  Much of this goes to local residents’ associations and clubs, many very worthy, but are these the core services we pay our Council Tax for? 

We don’t think you should pay for our weekends, or for that matter we should pay for yours.  We like Croydon’s Pride event, Mike of this parish has attended all of them.  He would like to thank you for subsidising his day out, but would rather you hadn’t been forced to.  In 2019 a total of £59,360 was paid out to Croydon Pride between Community Ward Budgets and the Culture Growth Fund, a huge amount of money for this 1 day event!  The Culture Growth Fund payments over £500 totalled  £754,669 of which, £160,000 went to pay for the expensively priced Boxpark, and Dance Umbrella (no we hadn’t heard of them either) received £29,000 of your taxes.  Croydon with Talent Ltd received £20,000 and once again The Oval Tavern received £5,000 for we assume a very expensive round.  Details below.

CULTURE GROWTH FUND

Vendor Name Amount 
Boxpark £160,000
Think Events (London) Ltd £63,000
Croydon Pride Ltd £54,000
A Fairweather – Fairweather Productions £33,000
Dance Umbrella £29,000
BH Live £26,832
Cellar Door Promotions Ltd £24,550
Redacted £23,075
Croydon with Talent Ltd    £20,000
London & Partners Ventures Ltd £20,000
Scanners Inc £20,000
Gowling WLG (UK) LLP    £19,044
Sam-Culture Ltd £18,750
The Brit School £17,500
Turf Projects_ £16,768
Redacted  £14,235
Beeja £10,000
Sound Diplomacy Limited £10,000
31 Percent Wool/Croydonist    £8,000
CROYDONITES FESTIVAL OF NEW THEATRE    £7,500
Syrus Consultancy CIC    £7,500
Good Wolf People Ltd £7,500
Croydon Voluntary Action £7,500
New Addington Peoples Carnival_ £7,500
Drunken Chorus Arts Collective £7,500
London Mozart Players £7,500
Kinetika Bloco Ltd    £7,200
White Hut Studios £7,000
Slide Dance £6,450
Play for Progress £5,830
WSP UK Ltd    £5,500
Rap Club Productions C.I.C. £5,445
Alasdair Brown£5,018
The Oval Tavern£5,000
Emergency Exit Arts£5,000
Gifted Enterprise C.I.C£5,000
Gye Nyame Development Foundation   £5,000
Crystal Palace Festival Group  £4,684
Open City Architecture£4,400
Artist Studio Company £4,063
Zoo Co Outreach£4,000
South Norwood Community Festival£3,750
Drum the Bass£3,750
Matthews Yard Croydon Ltd£3,580
Advice Support Knowledge Information£3,500
Cellar Door Promotions Ltd   £2,800
Crisis UK£2,582
Subrang Arts   £2,500
Tour Design Limited£1,500
FMM Pop Up£1,450
Made in Croydon£1,293
Reaching Higher£1,243
Fergus Ford Photography£1,100
Croydon Town Centre Bid   £1,000
Well Versed Ink CIC£1,000
FMM Pop Up   £870
Conditions Studio Programme£828
Turf Projects   £780
Amplified Theatre   £750
Red Quadrant   £550
Total £754,669

COMMUNITY WARD BUDGETS

Vendor Name Amount 
The Chartwell Cancer Trust Ltd   £30,192
REDACTED£18,114
LOVE NORBURY   £12,297
Purley Youth Project   £7,000
Stanley People’s Initiative   £6,736
CROYDON BME FORUM (CWB)£6,000
SOUTH NORWOOD COMMUNITY FESTIVAL GROUP   £5,500
Sanderstead Residents Association   £5,308
SECHC   £5,119
We Love SE25 – The South Norwood Town Team   £5,000
White Hut Studios (CWB)£5,000
Howard Primary School   £4,941
Pinewood Scout Centre   £4,894
SCOTS ESTATE NORBURY RESIDENT   £4,500
Solid Rock Academy   £4,500
CACFO UK (CWB)£4,000
White Hut Studios   £4,000
Reaching Higher   £4,000
Thornton Heath Business Partnership   £4,000
Croydon Commitment   £4,000
St John the Divine PCC   £3,973
Addiscombe and Shirley Park Residents Association (ASPRA)   £3,500
London Mozart Players   £3,500
St. Dominic’s Church (CWB)£3,333
Westcotec Ltd   £3,280
Westcotec Ltd£3,280
Croydon Bme Forum   £3,050
The Upper Norwood Library Trust   £3,000
All Saints Kenley   £3,000
Greenvale Primary School   £2,802
CBNWA (CWB)£2,750
KENLEY MEMORIAL HALL (CWB)£2,600
People for Portland Road   £2,600
Willow Learning for Life Ltd Community Interest Company   £2,500
Thornton Heath Community Action Team£2,500
CLOCFG   £2,500
DCC of St Edmunds Sanderstead   £2,500
South Croydon Business Association   £2,500
Elite Development FC   £2,500
CROYDON VOLUNTARY ACTION (CWB)£2,500
CROYDON SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATION PROJECT (CWB)£2,500
YuleFest (CWB)£2,467
Bangladeshi British Society Croydon   £2,400
Good Wolf People (CWB)£2,400
Croydon Pride (CWB)£2,320
The Shrublands Trust (CWB)£2,300
LONGHEATH GARDENS, LONG LANE & MILFORD GARDENS RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION (CWB)£2,225
LLMRA   £2,149
PURLEY BURY TENNIS CLUB (CWB)£2,000
Riddlesdown Tennis Club   £2,000
Brighton Road Baptist Church   £2,000
Croydon Community Against Trafficking   £2,000
Bromley & Croydon Women’s Aid   £2,000
CROHAM HURST GOOD NEIGHBOURS   £2,000
Ciro Donadio (CWB)£2,000
Thornton Heath Business Partnership (CWB)£2,000
Rotary Club of Purley_£2,000
Croydon District Scout Council   £2,000
Selsdon Residents Association (CWB)£2,000
Redacted £1,875
St George’s Shirley PCC (CWB)£1,867
THE FRIENDS OF ASHBURTON PARK   £1,861
The Shrublands Trust   £1,760
285 (Coulsdon & Purley) Sqdn ATC   £1,757
Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (Afruca)   £1,750
Woodcote High School   £1,683
West Croydon Methodist Church   £1,555
Community Family Worker   £1,500
GUIDING HANDS ORGANISATION CIC   £1,500
GBS RE CROYDON HLTH SRVS NHST (CWB)£1,500
Forestdale Primary School   £1,500
GAGE CIC (CWB)£1,500
Park Run   £1,500
St George’s Shirley PCC   £1,500
Croydon Indians Group Ltd   £1,500
Gye Nyame Development Foundation   £1,482
East Croydon Community Organisation   £1,480
THE FESTIVE LIGHTING COMPANY(CWB)£1,463
Friends of South Norwood Country Park (CWB)£1,333
Stanley People?s Initiative (CWB)£1,333
Crystal Palace F C Foundation (CWB)£1,267
Friends of Norbury Park   £1,216
Community Garden Thornton Heath£1,200
J J Martin (Catering Appliance Superstore) Ltd   £1,180
SELSON VILLAGE CLUB (CWB)£1,158
Rising Stars Support CIC£ 1,083
PLAY PLACE INNOV8 CIC (CWB)£1,020
Crystal Palace & Norwood Chamber Commerce   £1,000
Nightwatch   £1,000
Friends of Lloyd Park Croydon   £1,000
Fairchildes Academy Community Trust t/a Fairchildes Primary School£1,000
Surrey Beekeepers Association£1,000
Friends of Stambourne Woods   £1,000
Citizen Welfare Organisation Ltd   £1,000
All Heads Recognized Ltd   £1,000
White Hut Studios  (CWB)£1,000
SOUTH NORWOOD AND WOODSIDE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION   £1,000
Another Night of Sisterhood CIC   £1,000
St Gertrude’s Church   £1,000
CROYDON BOROUGH NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ASSOCIATION   £1,000
Whyteleafe F C   £1,000
Croydon Food Bank   £1,000
Croydon Pet Hospital   £1,000
Friends of Littleheath Woods   £1,000
CROYDON DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL (CWB)£1,000
Kenley Memorial Hall   £1,000
7th Purley Scout Group   £1,000
Rotary Club of Purley   £1,000
Evolve Housing & Support   £1,000
Palace for Life Foundation (CWB)£1,000
OLD COULSDON CENTRE FOR THE RETIRED   £950
Festivelighting   £950
Black Stock Target Communications (CWB)£900
Norbury Green Residents’ Association (CWB)£900
CHRISTIAN FAMILY CONCERN (CWB)£836
St Aidan’s Catholic Primary School   £800
Grangewood Bowling Club   £750
Foundation 47 (CWB)£750
New Addington Pathfinders (CWB)£750
New Addington Christmas Lights Appeal   £700
ELMWOOD JUNIOR SCHOOL (CWB)£700
Croydon Voluntary Association for the Blind (CWB)£650
African Youth Development Association (CWB)£605
Croydon Hearing Resource   £600
Well Being You Ltd   £595
Friends of Littleheath Woods (CWB)£575
Mind In Croydon   £575
LONDON MOZART PLAYERS (CWB)£550
2nd Selsdon & Addington Scout Group   £531
Thornton Heath Community Action Team   £500
SOLIDROCK ACADEMY (CWB)£500
The Children and young People’s Gardening Project (CWB)£500
Imagine Independence (CWB)£500
Winterbourne Nursery & Infant School (CWB)£500
Circle of parents 2 friends (CWB)£500
Another Night of Sisterhood CIC (CWB)£500
Thornton Heath Community Action Team (CWB)£500
Pollards Hill Residents Association (CWB)£500
The Friends of Park Hill Park (CWB)£500
CAGE CIC (CWB)£500
Croydon Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association (CWB)£500
44th Croydon Air Scout Group   £500
Croydon Cricket Club of India   £500
Waddington Way Residents Association   £500
Friends of Grangewood Park   £500
St Peters Parochid Church Council   £500
WE-STAP   £500
Active Living Support CIC   £500
Pinspired Ltd (CWB)£500
Friends of Bradmore Green   £500
KAREN JEWITT (CWB)£500
Public Spaces£347
Total£333,364

If you want to know more about the national picture, listen to Harry Fone the Grassroots Campaign Manager of TPA on with Mike Graham on Talk Radio.

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