Brent Full Council will be recommended to approve a rise in each councillor's basic allowance from £10,201 to £12,000 at the Annual Meeting on Monday. The decision, based on an independent review, was held back until after the local elections.
Last year the total paid out on allowances was £1,135111.91. In addition to the basic allowance some members are paid a Special ResponsibilityAllowance (SRA) with only one payable to any one member.
There are constitutional plans set out on Full Council papers that involve the merging of the Standards and Audit Committees into one, the setting up of a Licensing Committee and a proposal to abolish the Equalities Committee (on the grounds that the Pavery Report has been successfully implemented).
The main SRAs for the leadership team are unchanged and there are some reductions. Planning Committee members will be paid an SRA of £2,177 (reduced from £3,266), Chairs of Brent Connect forums reduced from £4,911 to £1,250, Principal Oppositiom leader allowance reduced from £13,042 to £6,000, Chief Whip of the ruling group reduced from £5,639 to £4,000, the Mayor reduced from £9,181 to £7,141 and Deputy Mayor from £7,141 to £3,234.
The Chair of the new Licensing Committee will be paid an SRA of £3,234 and th Chair and Vice Chair of the merged Audit and Standards Committee £1,500.
Full details HERE (See Appendix 2, pages 71-71)
Last year the total paid out on allowances was £1,135111.91. In addition to the basic allowance some members are paid a Special ResponsibilityAllowance (SRA) with only one payable to any one member.
There are constitutional plans set out on Full Council papers that involve the merging of the Standards and Audit Committees into one, the setting up of a Licensing Committee and a proposal to abolish the Equalities Committee (on the grounds that the Pavery Report has been successfully implemented).
The main SRAs for the leadership team are unchanged and there are some reductions. Planning Committee members will be paid an SRA of £2,177 (reduced from £3,266), Chairs of Brent Connect forums reduced from £4,911 to £1,250, Principal Oppositiom leader allowance reduced from £13,042 to £6,000, Chief Whip of the ruling group reduced from £5,639 to £4,000, the Mayor reduced from £9,181 to £7,141 and Deputy Mayor from £7,141 to £3,234.
The Chair of the new Licensing Committee will be paid an SRA of £3,234 and th Chair and Vice Chair of the merged Audit and Standards Committee £1,500.
Full details HERE (See Appendix 2, pages 71-71)
The £1,800 extra for each Councillor represents a rise of more than 17% which at a time when most Council workers' pay raises are still capped seems excessive. One beneficiary of this rise is of course the Brent Labour Party because with a 10% levy on all their Councillors their 57 Councillors will generate an extra £10,260 for their campaign coffers. The Brent Allowance system will now bring in around £100,000 a year to Brent Labour Party Funds. I wonder how the public might have reacted had the Labour Leadership had the honesty to propose such a large increase before the local elections?
ReplyDeleteYou've highlighted the key point, Paul!
DeleteUnder Butt, they increased the basic allowance from £8,000 to £10,000 as soon as they won the 2014 election. With 56 Labour councillors, that allowed them to raise £56,000 a year from the 10% levy, which funded their 2018 election campaign to reduce the number of non-Labour councillors from 7 to 3.
The latest 2018 increase to £12,000 will produce a levy of £72,000 a year (assuming they hold onto the three seats in Willesden Green) to Brent Labour Party funds. That's £288,000 out of Brent Council funds (i.e. OUR MONEY) before the next local elections in 2022, when Butt can use the money to help wipe out any remaining opposition to his rule over Brent Council.
Pigs. Snouts. Troughs.
ReplyDelete