The best things in life are free, but you can keep them for the birds and bees
Details of the allowances paid to the mayor and councillors in the last financial year (2013/14) have been published in the ‘Summer Edition’ of the Newham Mag.
The Mag’s version of the table lists councillors in alphabetic order (except the mayor, obviously, who is always on top) and doesn’t include any totals. So it’s hard to see exactly how much is being paid and to whom.
I’ve taken the data, added up totals for each councillor and sorted them into rank order:
| Name | Basic* | SRA | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| RA WALES | 0 | 81,029 | 81,029 |
| AR BAIKIE | 10,734 | 31,042 | 41,776 |
| IK CORBETT | 10,734 | 31,042 | 41,776 |
| RJ CRAWFORD | 10,734 | 31,042 | 41,776 |
| U DESAI | 10,734 | 31,042 | 41,776 |
| CW FURNESS | 10,734 | 31,042 | 41,776 |
| LT HUDSON | 10,734 | 31,042 | 41,776 |
| C MCAULEY | 10,734 | 31,042 | 41,776 |
| A KELLAWAY | 10,734 | 26,901 | 37,635 |
| EH SPARROWHAWK | 10,734 | 22,765 | 33,499 |
| E ROBINSON | 10,734 | 22,720 | 33,454 |
| Q PEPPIATT | 10,734 | 18,624 | 29,358 |
| F HUSSAIN | 10,734 | 18,039 | 28,773 |
| RA MIRZA | 10,734 | 17,877 | 28,611 |
| RN MANLEY | 10,734 | 14,488 | 25,222 |
| AB MCALMONT | 10,734 | 14,488 | 25,222 |
| T PAUL | 10,734 | 14,488 | 25,222 |
| WT VAUGHAN | 10,734 | 14,488 | 25,222 |
| NJ WILSON | 10,734 | 14,488 | 25,222 |
| A SINGH | 10,734 | 10,347 | 21,081 |
| K SCORESBY | 10,734 | 9,362 | 20,096 |
| J ALEXANDER | 10,734 | 5,176 | 15,910 |
| F BOURNE | 10,734 | 5,176 | 15,910 |
| S BRAYSHAW | 10,734 | 5,176 | 15,910 |
| A CHOWDHURY | 10,734 | 5,176 | 15,910 |
| D CHRISTIE | 10,734 | 5,176 | 15,910 |
| R RAHMAN | 10,734 | 5,176 | 15,910 |
| L SHAH | 10,734 | 5,176 | 15,910 |
| J GRAY | 10,734 | 3,621 | 14,355 |
| PW SCHAFER | 10,734 | 3,449 | 14,183 |
| S AHMAD | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| PM BRICKELL | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| L CAMERON | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| NK CHADHA | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| AA CHAUDHARY | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| B COLLIER | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| MS COLLIER | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| JH CORBETT | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| C FIBERESIMA | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| O GANGADHARAN | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| A GRIFFITHS | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| PM HOLLAND | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| KJ JENKINS | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| KR KAZI | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| JH LAGUDA | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| S MAHMOOD | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| C MCLEAN | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| P MURPHY | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| F NAZEER | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| FA NEKIWALA | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| M NICHOLAS | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| M PATEL | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| S PATEL | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| G PEARSON | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| P SATHIANESAN | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| PJ SHILLINGFORD | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| MM SKYERS | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| R TALATI | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| A TAYLOR | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| S THOMAS | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| H VIRDEE | 10,734 | 0 | 10,734 |
| Totals: | 644,040 | 560,700 | 1,204,740 |
*net of £95 deducted at source for home use of a council-supplied computer and data registration fee
A few things worth noting:
- 29 out of 60 councillors received some kind of ‘special responsibility allowance’ on top of their basic
- The top 10 recipients of council cash, including the mayor, were all men
- Only one woman, Forest Gate’s Ellie Robinson, is in the top 20 earners from councillor allowances
- Of the 29 councillors with ‘special responsibilities’, just 6 were women
- Including the mayor, 14 elected members got more in allowances than the average Newham household income
- Prior to the change to the mayoral system in 2002 councillors received a basic allowance of just £533 a year
There has as yet been no public announcement about the allowances to be paid to the cabinet members and mayoral advisors Sir Robin has appointed following his re-election, but you can bet that they won’t be stinting themselves.
Public service can be so rewarding.
forestgatedotnet 
I know I keep banging on about this, but 5% of those allowances is paid directly to the Labour Party and used to fund a full time official and campaigning. With such public funding, Wales can afford to ignore the views of rank and file members, and of course, the more allowances he gives, the more money goes to the Newham Labour Party. Again, for balance, I must add for balance that all political parties do this with Cleggs party taking a whopping 10% of councillor allowances, but in a one Party borough like Newham it gives a lot of power at public expense. Public funding of political parties has always been rejected by Parliament even though the de facto position is that it already happens.
It’s tough at the trough…
Damn! Wish I’d used that as my headline.