Tonight:
8°c
Town hall staff pay is frozen in crackdown on council tax rises
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent05.11.09
Hundreds of town hall staff are to have their pay frozen as a crackdown on council tax hikes sweeps across London.
Kensington and Chelsea today announced that 800 senior staff, and councillors, will get no pay rise in April next year. The salary freeze is due to save £400,000 a year.
The Tory-run local authority also aims to cut senior management costs by 15 per cent by 2011/12 to save £3 million annually.
Council leader Cllr Merrick Cockell said: "The decision to freeze the pay of 800 senior staff and of councillors shows our commitment to cutting costs and supporting residents in these difficult times."
More staff will also be moved from satellite buildings to the refurbished town hall, which officials say should eventually save £2.5 million a year.
Hammersmith & Fulham pledged this week to cut council tax by three per cent in April.
Town halls are now in a race to keep down the levy ahead of the general and local elections next year. Several Tory councils in London are seen as models which David Cameron is likely to use to slash waste and bureaucracy in central government. But Labour town hall chiefs say public services are suffering in Tory boroughs cutting costs.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are fighting hard to avoid losing seats to the Conservatives in the capital.
More than half of the 33 local authorities are now expected not to raise the tax next year.
Mayor Boris Johnson has vowed not to raise the Greater London Authority element of the council tax.
Reader views (5)
How does Kensington and Chelsea,one of the smaller London Boroughs, have 800 "senior" staff? That must include all the Chartered Professionals, and many more. Does it include Teachers other than Heads and Deputies? Does it include people who may be paid thorough the Council payroll, but aren't quite Council employees? I'm thinking of Voluntary Aided and Grant Maintained Schools and the Tenant Management Organisation. We've not heard the last of this.
- Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON
This is a good start, but I think we need a root and branch reform of the way Councils are funded, and what services we expect from them. My personal feeling is that they have grown far too large and try to do too much, particularly in areas dominated by PC.
- Very Very Angry At Paying Tax For Mp'S Expeses, Home Counties
Perhaps the Liberal woolies at Sutton council could take a leaf out of their book, especially after the councillors awarded themselves £10k pay rises last year in the midst of a recession!
- Bob, Cheam
Reduce all salaries to the same rate as Pension Credit (£130.00 per week), including all MP's.
Abolish council tax - it is nothing short of a glorified rip-off.
- Reuben Camara, Plot 1, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR
Good now it's been frozen, can we start looking at large pay cuts for staff on over £20K
- P Staker, London
