Embargoed: 00:01, Monday 18th March 2024
As Londoners brace for inflation-busting council tax rises, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has revealed that the number of staff employed by city hall and its subsidiaries that receive over £100,000 has surged from 655 in 2018-19 to 1,146 in 2022-23 City hall and its subsidiaries, including Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police, are funded through the mayoral precept, which is added on to Londoners’ council tax bills. The precept has increased by 57 per cent during the current mayor’s time in office, from £276 for band D properties in 2016-17 to £434 in 2023-24. In 2024-25 this will rise to £471. The body with the most employees receiving over £100,000 in remuneration was TfL with 772, up from 518 in 2018-19. TfL also had 18 employees who received over £250,000, including almost £500,000 for the chief programme officer of Crossrail and £261,490 for the chief operating officer of the Elizabeth Line, Howard Smith. Included in Smith's remuneration are bonuses and benefits in kind worth £71,740, the most of anyone on the list. This is despite figures from the Office of Rail and Road revealing the Elizabeth Line had the highest cancellations of any railway line in the four weeks to 19 August. The number of employees receiving over £100,000 in the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, which includes the Metropolitan Police, increased from 80 to 301 between 2018-19 and 2023-24. Four employees received over £250,000, including Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, who received £313,366. According to the Office for National Statistics, there was a 21 per cent increase in knife crimes in the year to June 2023. There are 15 on the mayoral team who received over £100,000, costing a total of £2,174,374. The mayor, Sadiq Khan, received £171,587 in 2022-23, an increase of £21,000, or 14 per cent, compared to 2018-19.
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Key findings
CLICK HERE TO READ THE RESEARCHElliot Keck, head of campaigns of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "City hall is now bursting at the seams with the growing number of officials bringing home the big bucks. “From transport, to police and the mayor's office, the number of fat cats has surged, all paid for by Londoners who have seen their council tax bills balloon.
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