Rallying call to save Royal British Legion clubs
- Today's leader
Shropshire councillors cut expenses
Friday 14th January 2011, 11:30AM GMT.
Shropshire Councillors have agreed to cut their basic allowance and travel expenses to “share the pain” with staff who face a pay freeze and changes to their employment terms and conditions.
The Tory-dominated Shropshire Council has also voted for millions of pounds of savings to balance the books, but has been warned the move is only a “precursor to Armageddon” with even deeper cuts needed from next year.
Members have approved a five per cent cut to their basic allowance, which will be £12,120 from April 1.
They have also agreed to reduce their various mileage allowances, bringing the figure down to a standard 40 pence per mile in line with staff travel rates. Current rates for members range from 46p to 65p.
Council leader Keith Barrow said: “There is going to be pain and we should all take our share of it.”
He has also revealed that he has asked officers to approach the Boundary Commission to see whether it will be possible to reduce the number of councillors – currently 74 – which will help make further savings.
The full council yesterday voted 46 to 19 for a series of measures aimed at finding the remaining £16.2 million which will give the total savings of £30,803,000 needed by April 1 to deliver a balanced budget for 2011/12.
This is in addition to £10 million the council found last year to offset the loss of Government grants.
But there remains a funding shortfall of £38 million covering the years 2012/13 and 2013/14.
The budget cuts were strongly condemned by Labour opposition leader Alan Mosley. He said many vulnerable people would not be immune from the cuts, citing the axing of 60 staff posts in adult social care.
Labour’s Ted Clarke described the cuts as a “precursor to Armageddon”.
Tory member Martin Bennett said the council had a legal obligation to produce a balanced budget. Councillor Barrow said the council was having to take tough decisions because the previous Labour government had brought the country to the “brink of bankruptcy”.
By Dave Morris
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“We should all take our share”. I was under the impression that the reduction in hours/pay that Shropshire public sector workers are taking did not apply to Keith Barrow and his senior management. I must have misheard.
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Ah well. The devil is always in the detail (or not) with this mob.
The problem with Shropshire Council and its merry band of (numerous) ‘Communications Officers’ is that it’s generally not what they tell you.
It’s what they DON’T tell you. But saying all that, maybe for once they are on the level here? (I doubt it, but, in fairness, you never know).
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So who isn’t sharing the pain – hmm bankers? yes, even ones we employ!
What good is the government to us – they can’t get some control over the bankers, they can’t get the streets cleaned, they aren’t interested in people having a return on their savings, they’re adding to the bonuesses over the bankers by removing the controls already there and replacing them with inferior ones. They’re cutting in real term front line services (yet saying they’re not), they’re about to ruin the NHS. This BOGOF Government is nasty to those who don’t have big friends.
What good are they – the country may one day have balance sheets they are happy with but unemployment figures beyond what we can now imagine.
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Ah, but you’ve got to remember that the bankers are a special case. If we don’t pay them ‘the market rate’ (which is decided by who I wonder….?) they’ll all go and work elsewhere – then we’ll be deprived of their special talents.
As Bob Diamond of Barclay’s said the other day – “the time for remorse is over” – it’s not as though the banking collapse was anything to do with the bankers is it?
Personally I blame the bin men and those useless so-and-so’s who didn’t grit the roads properly – replace them with a few thousand of the financial sector’s finest and we’d have a country to be proud of again
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I think you’ll find its the Gritters that are responsible for the banking collapse, not the binmen
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have you ever read David Copperfield? like Mr MaCawber we all know if that if you spend more than you earn the result it misery – would you prefer the IMF to be running things?
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David Cameron will make threats to huff & puff & blow the bankers houses down,in reality he is powerless to do anything.He could tax the bankers bonuses out of existance,but he won’t many of them are his rich old Eton school tie pals.Plus they donate to party funds so he can’t upset them,Neil Kinnock in the 80′s suggested the banks should be taken in to state ownership people laughed at him now with the benefit of hindsight this immoral bonus situation could not happen.Also remember many of the newly elected Tory MP’s are former bankers who helped cause this mess the UK is in!
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“many of the newly elected Tory MP’s are former bankers”
So are quite a few of the Lib Dems…
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Then its a good job all the hard grafting, working class dirt under the finger nails previous government didn’t allow the bonus’s to get out of hand…….hmmmmmm
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“Neil Kinnock in the 80′s suggested the banks should be taken in to state ownership people laughed at him now with the benefit of hindsight this immoral bonus situation could not happen.”
Er, not quite correct, P.T.
What do you mean “This immoral bonus situation could not happen”?
More than one of the banks IS now in state ownership and they’re STILL giving bonuses out.
So it IS happening.
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Are they having the pay freeze too? A cut to their basic allowance and 5p less travel money sounds really painful.
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In line with the staff there will be no increase to the allowance for at least 2 years as it is linked to the staff salaries.
The top rate of mileage is 65p/mile so the reduction for Councillors who drive larger cars will be 25p/mile
Cllr Barrow will loose around £1800 a year according to my figures (5% off the basic and 5% off the Special Responsibility allowance)
Also please remember that Cllr Barrow said yesterday on Radio Shropshire that the figure that the independent remuneration panel came up with as an allowance was £24,000 each, which is already cut by 50% to take account of the “public service element”
We also have 74 Councillors being paid this reduced sum – compared with 5 sets of district and 1 set of County Councillors who were being “paid” before – so overall the bill starts off by being a lot less than it was when Shropshire Council was created.
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74 is still too high
there are only 250,000 people in shropshire so IMO 25 x councillors one for every 10,000 would be fine
why not plenty of CEOs manage 10,000 staff, 10,000 would be a nice round number for voting etc too making sums easier and being nice and metric, then MPs could go for 100,000 and regional mayors 1,000,000. that would be nice and metric, the maths is appealing
in india they have 1 BILLION people and only 100 MPs thats one per 10 million! In the USA they have 50 senators for 250 million people
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Ah, yes, another aspect of the sense of detachment from real world living.
The current rate of reimbursement is 65p a mile and will drop to 40p a mile.
JFYI, whilst I agree that a car costs more than 40p a mile to run, the fact is that in the commercial world, as opposed to the public sector feather bed, 40p a mile is the maximum allowed by HMRC for mileage reimbursement. I can just imagine the reaction of the tax investigators if I were to start claiming 65p a mile as reimbursement on the annual return.
It can be done, certainly, but the you have to pay tax on the additional 25p and that involves administration and hassle, so most companies also set 40p as the maximum that employees can charge the company for reimbursement.
It’s been that rate for at least 10 years and never been increased, even though the government adds more and more duty to fuel increasing it to a level that 40p (or even 65p) is nowhere near a realistic level for reimbursement.
But until HMRC changes the rules, councillors should stay within the rules and not make out that it’s a sacrifice. We ALL have to do it at that rate, you’re no different.
And I assume that tax was paid on all those extra 25p per miles that were claimed in the past.
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Absolutely right, Mr Barrow.
Especially that is, if you and the rest of the councillors (of whatever political hue) want to get re-elected – which, let’s face it, is the *primary* concern of you all…..
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I can remember when it was an honour to serve as a councillor for no pay or allowances. It is now a job for many of them and there are too many of them. Cut the number of councillors by 50% and that includes the Town Council, which is an element not needed. The swings can be looked after by the Shropshire council.
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When it was an honour to serve for no pay or allowances there would probably be one or at most two meetings a month.
The larger councils now have meetings almost every week – check the diaries – and papers that can be measured by the inch which means hours of reading.
I don’t see that many people hammering on the doors of the Town councils to BE a councillor either – the last vacanacy for Oswestry only attracted one person who was willing to be co-opted.
It’s easier to stand on the touchline and criticise rather than take part in the game.
Will YOU be standing in 2013?
Maybe we should just abolish ALL the councils and councillors and elect a Mayor instead? Or just cut through all the arguments and do what the Romans did – have a dictator who can take all the decisions and ignore everything and everyuone.
As Churchill said – democracy is the worst of all forms of government………. until you compare it to all the alternatives!
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Agree! the town councils also needs to make some cuts too
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Totally agree CDC.
The allowances when they were introduced (so that councillors were not just attracted from the gentry or successful business men) were not supposed to amount to anything more than out of pocket expenses.
This is why it is a mystery as to why when we cut the number of councillors to go ‘unitary’a couple of years ago (a cost saving measure we were told) some unnamed ‘panel’ somewhere decided that allowances could double and triple in some cases with rural councillors.
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Please consider the facts.
The global amount paid to District and County Councillors has come down by a large amount. The amount that is now paid to the 74 councillors is much less than it used to be for some 200+ councillors.
And 74 are now doing the work of the previous 200+.
The allowance was set at £12,000. Tax is paid on that, which at 20% reduces it to £9,600 a year – which is an hourly rate of £1.10
That seems a pretty low recompense for anyone who has to sacrifce working hours – and maybe in the future a pension, and probably a lot of family time too.
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long over due they finally woke up to public opinion, im sure they will still make it up to themselves by forming some new committees and doing some over time!
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Local councillors are getting “highest ever” allowances,the old councillors of yesteryear claimed hardly anything from the public purse and they did a good job.They took on the job because they cared and wanted to help people in their community,not to draw vast sums from public funds which they were not allowed to claim anyway.It needs to return to the old days in this respect!
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so they should too! 5% is not enough i think all staff and politics in the public sector should be cut by at least 20%, the whole lot are just parasites, they add no economic value to anything just take take take off real wealth creating sectors
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Yes spot on dario. Teachers, Nurses, Binmen, Police, Firefighters, Soldiers. Parasites the lot of them. Not contributing anything to society are they? Let’s get rid of the lot of them. The country would be a much better place to live wouldn’t it?
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Paul,
Typical blind Daily Mail inspired anti-public service rhetoric from Dario. He doubtless makes use of many public services, but takes all of them, and the people that provide them, entirely for granted.
Like so many critics of the public service I doubt if he’s ever worked in the public sector.
Having worked in both the public and private sector I can assure readers that I’ve seen far more excess and waste in large private sector organisations than I ever saw in public service.
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he is right the councillors like all public sector staff are over paid and under worked, get them out at the next election, we need proper old fashioned conservatism to cut back the public sector faster and deeper, shropshire is too reliant on government spending and it must be cut now
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If people are dissatisfied with the reported cut in councillors’ allowances, etc., may I suggest an alternative?
Replace councillors’ flat rate allowances with a performance-related allowance and have the electorate set the rate.
Let the fun begin…
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the tories are relishing these cuts, they use it as an excuse to do what they foolishly think is right by selling off public land and services to the highest bidder
we can see what a mess that gets us in by the state of the railways
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Lets make MP’s expenses next.(fat chance).
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this decision is long overdue, to be fair to david cameron ( i dont like him or vote for him) but i respect his decision to do this on day one for him and all his cabinet, what it also shows unlike councillor barrow is that he’s a clever and shrewd politian who has read the public mood better than his shropshire collegues did. All staff have taken a 5% pay cut which with current inflation is looking more like a 10% pay cut, so its the least they can do but also all contractors and voluntary sector groups are getting cuts of like 50-70% so fairs fair
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Oswestrian please look back to 2007:
[One councillor James Barrow, who stood down at the last election, received a basic allowance of £3,408, plus £30 telephone expenses, despite only attending two out of 16 council meetings and one of 11 scrutiny meetings.
His vacant seat was won by his father, Councillor Keith Barrow.
Councillor Simon Edwards received a total of £3,777.96 having attended four meetings. He failed to be re-elected at this month’s council elections.
In the past, councillors had to attend meetings to get an attendance allowance – the main part of the money they could claim for their role. But in recent years this has changed.
Oswestry borough councillors now all receive a basic allowance of £3,408 then additional, special responsibility allowances and a £30 telephone allowance.]
2009
[The rates for the new Shropshire Council have also been recommended by the panel.
The authority’s 74 members will be able to claim a basic £12,000 and the leader a further £24,000.
The figures were overwhelmingly agreed by the former county council earlier this year. There were no objections but three councillors abstained from voting.]
[One of them, Peter Corston, said that he was unhappy that the issue was being considered at a time of economic problems.
He was not saying that the allowances were unfair but he wondered what “message” was being sent out to the public when the number of jobless was rising and there was a growing number of house repossessions.]
I am not opposed to council officers getting a decent wage Oswestrian, they have to perform and they are in the main professionals who could probably get on with their job a lot better if not being manipulataed by self interests of councillors.
The problem is that councillors are only obliged do as much as they choose and for most the income supplements a pension.
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sounds like a scandal ! Shropshire star headlines await!
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this is par for the course as they say i dont see this as any major good thing for them to crow about its the least they could be expected to do when they are the ones voting to close care homes, lay off street sweepers etc
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I have enquired at the Shirehall. and yes the pensioners bus pass will not be accepted on any park and ride service in Shrewsbury at any hour of the day from the 1st of April. they will have to pay the full fare. So the disabled ones will be parking on yellow lines all over the town, well done our council.
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A good call
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Not only are they cutting concessionary fares to the park and ride services, they are also stopping concessionary fares before nine and I believe after three. Also the bus routes that are subsidised by the council will no longer run after 7pm I ask,
What has happened to the councils sustainable transport policy?
Why pick on the elderly and disabled.
The retail parks will be laughing their socks of, when residents of Shropshire decide to boycott the park and ride refuse to pay the higher charges for parking in town and will use the convenience of retail parks rather that shopping in Shrewsbury Town.
It would be better to consider using the five million pounds put aside for cycle track improvements on encouraging residents to use public transport, we do have to remember that as we get older and frail, the option of riding a bike into town is not always an option. Funding for cycle track improvements can then be considered when the council’s budgets allow.
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cut them all, they should all be cut and the market will decide what is best
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so they blooming well should do !!
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i should hope so too, thats the least they can do! these lazy councillors in the public sector with their long holidays, short hours and fat cat pensions, they should be privatised to company who pays them less that would teach them about proper decision making and accountability,
how many of these so called councillors have ever been on a board of directors or had any training in decision making to support their inflated salarys and sense of self importance
i would like to see them embody the big society vision and work for free, either that or be outsourced to a private company who would make them really earn their money with performance related pay or get sacked
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the councils need to rememeber they are public sector, we pay their wages you know! they need to do more for less and buck up their act, there is too much public sector in this country is all labours fault i for one would like to see all the councillors cut by 50% they dont create any wealth they just create red tape and beurocratic rules and regulations, sweep them away with the other public sector dinosaurs like the NHS and the socialist republic of the welsh assembly
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[Shropshire Councillors have agreed to cut their basic allowance and travel expenses to “share the pain” with staff who face a pay freeze and changes to their employment terms and conditions.]
19 & 20
If you read this properly you will see the word staff.
Councillors are not employees.
Other than the teaching profession who for some undefined reason are treated differently to all the rest of the council employees staff are often professionals with degrees, do not have long holidays and are commonly on a typical salary for Shropshire of around £20,000 to £25,000 per annum.
It is when you get to the top tiers of management that the pay has been ludicrous. Likewise with the councillors the allowances become more attractive in the more apparently responsible positions.
This responsibilty is questionable however when the risk is to the public purse and not comparable to an individual putting all his worldly goods on the line andwho may even have his own home at risk if he makes bad decisions.
Originally councillors put themselves forward for public service and were considered to be people of high scruples and honour.
That has evolved today into the role being a quasi paid post the allowances more generous than out of pocket expenses dependent to a degree on how much effort is put into the work involved.
One councillor said that he could not manage on his pension if he were not a councillor. His honesty was refreshing but only shared over a pint at the local with an old friend who himself was self employed and felt slighty aggrieved.
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