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You are here: Greenwich / Magazine / The Cost of Leadership

The Cost of Leadership

December 21, 2010 By Paul Webbewood

On 9th December the Evening Standard published an article on councillors’ allowances in London. I’ve constructed a table which tries to put Greenwich in context:

2009-2010 Figures London Average Greenwich
Total of councillors’
allowances
£994,991 £943,330
Leader of Council’s total
allowances
£50,529 £62,816
Basic allowance £9,972 £10,210

Looking at this, it appears that Greenwich is in the mainstream on total expenditure and the amounts paid to ward councillors, but that Council Leader Chris Roberts receives almost 25% more than the average for his job. Indeed the figure in the table is inflated by including the three elected Mayors. In the 29 Boroughs without elected Mayors, only two leaders seem to have done better than Mr Roberts.

When challenged previously about his allowances Chris Roberts has correctly claimed that they are in line with the recommendations of London Councils (LC) the representative body for local government in London

Now LC is effectively run on behalf of Council Leaders and cynics might say that its views on what they should get paid are about as valuable as those of a committee of sharks on bathing arrangements at Sharm el Sheikh. Indeed Chris Roberts received £10,000+ from LC in 2009-10 on top of his Greenwich Council money (as did many other leaders).

Be that as it may, it is true that an independent panel appointed by LC says that being a Council Leader is

“a full-time job, involving a high level of responsibility and now includes the exercise of executive responsibilities. It is right that it should be remunerated on a basis which compares with similar positions in the public sector, while still retaining a reflection of the voluntary character of public service“.

This panel recommended that Council Leaders in London be paid a total of £64,864 per annum. I would agree with the principle set out by the panel but not necessarily with the amount they came up with. In practice almost all Councils choose to regard it as a ceiling rather than a direction - indeed Greenwich pays its councillors who are Cabinet Members significantly less than the LC recommendation for their role. However for Chris Roberts alone the letter of the law applies.

Does Mr Roberts deserve more money then his peers in the rest of London? Well it is certainly true to say that Greenwich has a good record in keeping Council Tax low over the last decade or so, although it is difficult to disentangle how much of this is down to good housekeeping and how much to the effects of Government funding formulas. On the other hand Greenwich is consistently ranked as being below the London average in the quality of its services.

I conclude therefore that, while Chris Roberts has displayed a basic level of competence as Council Leader since 2000, he is by no means a municipal superstar and his pay should be reduced to the London average. While a saving of £12,287 would only be a drop in the ocean in the Council’s current position, it would be a sign of the Council’s good faith and common sense as it starts to navigate the troubled waters ahead.

Filed Under: Magazine Tagged With: Platform

Comments

  1. Nigel Fletcher says

    December 21, 2010 at 7:21 pm

    Are you by any chance the same Paul Webbewood who, as a Councillor, claimed an extra allowance to be your 2-man”Group”‘s whip? Whilst your Leader claimed an extra allowance for being your Leader? Just wondering.

  2. Nigel Fletcher says

    December 21, 2010 at 7:24 pm

    More seriously, Paul, whilst I think a cut to the Leader’s salary would be a suitable gesture in these times, I think you are picking the wrong target. Cabinet Members get what is basically a full-time salary, but have no minimum expected hours of work or performance standards. They don’t even have assigned desks in Council buildings. That’s the real issue I think needs looking at.

  3. Paul Webbewood says

    December 21, 2010 at 11:42 pm

    Nigel

    Although I was indeed Liberal Democrat Whip (not Chief Whip) I rightly didn’t get any additional allowance for this My Group Leader did get a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) of around £4-5k a year but this recognised the fact that as the main Liberal Democrat voice on the Council he had a greater workload than somebody who was purely a ward councillor, just like the Conservative Leader who got a much larger SRA for leading the main Opposition grouping.

    At the 2006 Council elections we got nearly 20% of the vote for 4% of the seats. I don’t think it’s outrageous that we received 2.5% of the members’ allowances.

  4. j garcia says

    December 22, 2010 at 10:58 am

    A plague on both your houses.

Trackbacks

  1. Greenwich council cuts latest: Greenwich Libraries Limited? « 853 says:
    December 22, 2010 at 9:36 am

    […] Meanwhile, former Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Webbewood suggests his own cut – Greenwich Council leader Chris Roberts could trim his salary. […]

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