Government minister criticises Croydon Council pay hike (From Croydon Guardian)

Government minister criticises Croydon Council pay hike

11:53am Monday 19th July 2010 in Local news By Mike Didymus

Government minister criticises Croydon Council pay hike

Croydon Council’s ruling Tory cabinet’s decision to award themselves a bumper pay rise has been criticised by a leading Government minister.

Council Leader Mike Fisher is set to receive a 34 per cent hike in his special responsibility allowance(SRA), which would see him take home £64,824 a year, while his nine cabinet colleagues are also in line for pay bumps.

Regular councillors will see their allowance drop to £10,597 if the proposals are voted through by full council tonight.

Cabinet’s decision comes as the council prepares to slash £70m from its budget over the next four years, with dozens of voluntary organisations already facing closure amid plans to slash their funding by £1.2m.

More than 60 jobs are also set to be lost under council plans to wind up its economic development company designed to boost Croydon’s business sector.

Minister for local government Grant Shapps said: “At a time when there's a public sector pay freeze councillors should think twice about rewarding themselves with bumper pay rises.

“Whether it's a Labour council in Newham or a Conservative one in Barnet increasing pay when others are losing their jobs both looks and feels wrong.

“I think councils will struggle to justify such a casual approach to spending taxpayers' money and I urge them to think again.”

He added: “We're all in this together, and those who hold public office need to lead by example.”

The new allowances are the recommended figures from the Independent Panel on the Remuneration of Councillors in London.

Croydon Council previously ran its own independent panel to decide on allowances.

Coun Fisher defended the pay-hikes by pointing out he and his cabinet are “taking much bigger decisions than we were previously”.

He said: “I understand why at this particular time people have the views they do.

“The review had to be carried out and we decided to move to this model because it saves money for the taxpayer and takes decision making (for allowances) from the council.

“I think the timing could have been better but at the end of the day we had to review allowances, and this saves £60,000.”

Deputy leader Dudley Mead, who can look forward to a £3,000 increase in his SRA, said the cabinet had all agreed not to take the rise for at least 12 months.

He said: “We will review it in a year’s time and climate is similar then we will not take it, but I can’t see that we will be out of this mess in 12 months’ time.”