Council's £5m in staff bonuses added £39 to average Council Tax bill (Westminster and City of London Liberal Democrats)

Westminster and City of London Liberal Democrats <info@westminsterlibdems.org.uk>

Council's £5m in staff bonuses added £39 to average Council Tax bill

April 6, 2009 7:53 PM

£4,992,285... that's how much local taxpayers' money went on staff bonuses at Westminster council in just one year

Westminster council spent £5m of public money on bonuses for staff during the 2007/08 financial year, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act, and made public today by More4 News. That would have added £39 to that year's average 'band D' Council Tax bill.

An individual breakdown of bonuses awarded to council employees on very high salaries, released today by the TaxPayers' Alliance, revealed that £452,500 of the £5m went to the 17 Westminster council employees who each earned at least £100,000 that year.

Former Westminster chief executive Peter Rogers collected £42,500, taking his total package to £205,000 - more than the Prime Minister earns in a year. This was the highest bonus paid to any council employee in the country, according to the results of the Freedom of Information Act request.

The exact total paid in bonuses by Westminster council during 2007/08 was £4,992,285. This was the third highest total of all the 280 councils who provided information, behind only Birmingham and Kirklees. The only other London council in the top 20 was the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which like Westminster is Conservative-controlled. They paid a lot less however, at £1.7m.

The astonishing figures follow the recent revelation that Westminster council has spent tens of thousands of pounds leasing flash cars, such as the BMW Z4, for top staff.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Westminster North, Mark Blackburn, said, "Official figures for that year reveal that Westminster had to raise £48m from local people through Council Tax bills. This £5m spent on staff bonuses is more than 10% of that. In other words, more than a tenth of the total amount we paid in Council Tax that year went on bonuses for staff. I am gobsmacked!"

Mark continued, "People working for councils right across the country do a great job. Social workers, for example, help keep children safe and help vulnerable adults too. The quality of our lives would be much worse without the good work of council employees.

"That said, whilst I want public sector workers to be paid well for what they do, I don't think that the bonus culture is something I want to see encouraged in town halls. What is more, a lot of this is going to those already on big salaries, not the employee on a lower wage, who would benefit most from a little extra.

"Westminster Conservatives like to portray themselves as financial wizards. Well, with this and the £17m the council lost in the Icelandic banking collapse, they certainly seem able to make our money disappear quickly enough."