Labour propose legal challenge to defend councillor pension subsidy

The Local Government Chronicle reports (£) that Labour council leaders are demanding a Judicial Review to defend subsidied councillor pensions. It says that the  Local Government Association  Labour group leader Cllr David Sparks said it was “extremely important that we do not just roll over on this [pension] issue” and suggested a legal challenge, adding: “I am expecting that the report we get in February will look seriously at the whole issue of judicial review.”

Who would pay for the legal challenge? The Local Government Association - which means the Council Taxpayers (apart from in Bromley where the council isn't a member.) 

Jules Pipe, the directly elected Labour Mayor of Hackney claimed that the government thought councils “with £1bn-plus turnover can be run by an occasional few evening meetings.” Is Mayor Pipe claiming that when Eric Pickles was leader of Bradford Council that Mr Pickles refused to attend any day time meetings? Or that Brandon Lewis reused to when leader of Brentwood Borough Council? What basis does Mayor Pipe have for such a silly misrepresentation.

Councillors allowances should be abolished not increased

The Labour MP Clive Betts, who is "Chair" of the Communities and Local Government Committee, has taken to the airwaves today demanding an increase in councillor allowances. This reflects a report from his committee. As the blunt speaking folk of Sheffield might put it: "What planet is he on?"

We could have an interesting debate about whether allowances should be abolished. Abolition would mean we would save Council Taxpayers a few hundred million pounds a year. We would have more independently minded councillors. They would identify more with residents, less with Council employees - which they would cease to be.  Deadbeats clinging on just for their allowances would have an inclination stand down. Civic pride would be enhanced.

For my part, I would still wish to be a councillor if the role was unpaid, regarding it as an enjoyable and important role. However, I would not be able to afford to spend as much time on it which would reduce my effectiveness. But then it is not all about me. Probably the abolition of councillors allowances would overall provide better as well as cheaper local administration.

Good news as gold plated councillor pensions to end

On September 11th 2001 Jo Moore, Special Adviser to Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Region, sent the following email:

"It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors expenses?"

The bad news, which was press released the next day, was that councillors should be allowed to join their council's pension scheme - and thus have gold plated pensions subsidised by their Council Taxpayers. This came into force in 2003. Research by the Taxpayers Alliance suggests nearly a quarter of councillors signed up.

The arrangement is being scrapped. From April 2014 councillors will not be eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme, those councillors who are members will not be able to mae further contributions. This will save £7 million a year. But there is also  a wider point. Councillors should put the interests of residents first rather than council staff. If councillors are themselves members of staff this gives the wrong mentaliity. Those having a ride on a gravy train are not going to keen to bring it to a halt.

Let council staff use their own laptops

An interesting report on the BBC says:

Most people are well-acquainted with the concept of BYOB (bring your own bottle). But could the acronym BYOD (bring you own device) be about to revolutionise the way councils and other public bodies operate?

The issue doesn't seem to be councils paying for staff to have mobile phone or laptop for personal use. (Although there is some suggestion that staff who do this and thus save the council money should be rewarded.) The main point is allowing staff to use their own devices - which is something they feel would be a benefit. 

Steve Halliday, head of information communications technology at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, says.

"You would not expect your company to provide your own suits or shoes and the company car has become much less prevalent than it used to be.

"Your personal device is quite intimate and people will choose and want to use the devices they want."

New TaxPayers' Alliance survey reveals big differences in size of councillor allowances

By Tim Montgomerie
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A new survey by the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals big differences between the level of basic allowance received by different councillors. Councillors representing the Scottish Borders, for example, receive £16,932 per year while those in Tory South Ribble receive just £1,500.

According to this morning's Today programme 80% of allowances have been cut or frozen since they were last set but the TPA reveals five inflation-busting councils that top the league for not recognising the age of austerity:

• Boston Borough Council: £2,378 to £3,052 – allowances up 28%
• Mid Devon District Council: £3,654 to £4,500 – allowances up 23%
• Slough Borough Council: £5,973 to £7,100 – allowances up 19%
• North Hertfordshire District Council: £3,798 to £4,500 – allowances up 18%
• Tunbridge Wells Borough Council: £4,730 to £5,279 – allowances up 12%

Sunderland City Council spends £210,000 on flights

More great work from the Taxpayers Alliance.  There is news (£) in The Times this morning on their research into spending by councils in the north east on flights.

Sunderland City Council spent more than £210,000 on flights from 2009 to 2012, the biggest spender in the north east. £62,000 was devoted to their town twinning arrangement with Washington DC. More than £10,000 went on two trips to South Africa to attend a Commonwealth Local Government Forum Good
Practice Scheme project. The council claims this junketing helps attract investment - but offers no evidence for this.

Newcastle City Council spent almost £110,000 on flights - but claimed to have no proper records of the reasons for the flights, or in many cases even the destinations.

Middlesbrough Council spent over £1,700 on flights to Germany for town twinning events. The council also spent £7,500 on flights to various European cities, New York and Miami to attend performing arts
events and arts fairs.

Kent County Council paid chief exec £589,000 last year

A story in the Daily Telegraph this morning that should motivate armchair auditors.

They have spotted that Katherine Kerswell was paid £589,000 by Kent County Council in the last financial year. It should be noted that £420,000 of this was redundancy pay - she had been on a four year contract and it was less than half way through. But that is still the most staggering amount.

Where does the story come from? Not from any secret leaked document but from looking at Kent County Council's website. They include it in their draft Statement of Accounts 2011-12.

The Daily Telegraph report says:

"The county council has previously refused to disclose details of the pay-off, saying it was subject to a confidentiality agreement.

"But under new transparency rules on top executive pay, the details have now had to be reported.

Check councillor's allowances Pickles urges residents

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles is encouraging residents to check the amount their local councillors are being paid in allowances.

Eric says:

"The public have every right to know  how their taxes are being spent and high levels of scrutiny  on councillor expenses can only be a good thing.

"Financial disclosure has been and continues to be, a powerful trigger in enabling  the public to see how councils are using public money, shining a spotlight on waste and establishing greater accountability and efficiency.

"Opening the books to the public should ensure we never return to the bad old days of secrecy that were so prevalent under Labour."

Labour propose more Cabinet Members for Southampton Council

As Labour take charge at Southampton City Council their new leader Cllr Richard Williams has announced an early change:

I want to empower all the portfolio holders to work in their area- I want it to be decentralised. That team could include more Cabinet members drawing the additional £11,000 allowance than the previous six Conservatives. There could be a different-sized Cabinet.

Oddly despite this declaration coming so early on it was absent from Labour's manifesto.

John Henvest of The Taxpayers Alliance objects that Cllr Williams has come out with a plan for higher bills.

He says:

With all the problems Southampton faces, it seems rather strange that one of  Cllr Williams’ first announcements after becoming council leader was to propose more full-time politicians! This hardly comes top of the list for hard pressed council taxpayers in the city. To the best of my knowledge, none of the previous cabinet members went on the record saying they were so overworked they felt they needed additional colleagues in the cabinet to ease the load. If the previous administration coped with six cabinet members, why can’t the new one?
 

3,097 council staff earning over £100,000

A new survey by the Taxpayers Alliance reports that there were 3,097 council staff who earned over £100,000 in 2010-11. This was up 13% on 2009-10. The report is timed to increase accountability as many voters go to the polls next week. For instance Labour's chances of wommomg in Glasgow will not be helped by the following point:

The largest remuneration package in Scotland in 2010-11, excluding any redundancy payments, was received by George Black, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council who received £217,419, the same as the previous year. Glasgow also had the highest number of employees at a Scottish local authority with remuneration exceeding £100,000 in 2010-11 with 25.

The transparency revolution has meant the TPA has been able to compile the information from looking at the Council's website rather than dragging out the information via Freedom of Information requests.

Some will see the trend as a snub to Eric Pickles. But a better indication will be the 2011-12 figures when they become available. My own council will see costs going down as we are  sharing the salaries of senior executives with neighbouring boroughs. Boris Johnson has abolished the post of Chief Executive at the GLA. Also some of the remuneration listed is redundancy pay.

On the other hand you could argue the 3,097 figure is an underestimate. "There were 1,146 council employees whose total remuneration was between £90,000 and £99,999 excluding pension contributions," says the report. "Even taking the minimum employer contribution level on the Local Government Pension Scheme of 14 per cent, an employee receiving a salary of £90,000 would receive a minimum pension contribution of £12,600, and therefore a total remuneration in excess of £100,000."