News Briefing
Councillors take £1.27m in expenses
THE taxpayers' bill for
Hampshire county councillors
has doubled in past seven
years, the Daily Echo can reveal.
Allowances claimed by the council's 78 members
totalled £1.278m last year, with an additional
£110,000 paid out in expenses.
More than half of the county councillors
claimed even more for their roles on other
councils and public authorities.
Two county councillors pocketed more than
£50,000 in their various allowances and
expenses.
Council tax reform group IsItFair said the
cost of the allowances was too high and questioned
whether some councillors were value
for money.
IsItFair founder Christine Melsom said: "The
total bill is horrendous. It's toomuch for people
to be spending on a council."
The figures come as an independent panel,
carrying out the first full review of the county
council's allowance scheme since it was set up
eight years ago, begins to consider evidence it
has received over the past month.
Councillors want to know whether they are
being paid enough for their work and will get a
report back in October, although they can
ignore the recommendations.
County councillors can currently claim a
basic allowance of £11,565 with extra
allowances for special responsibilities, rising
to £27,913 for the leader, Tory councillor Ken
Thornber.
Yet many councillors are so called "double
hatters" claiming extra sets of allowances for
other public roles while in some cases holding
down jobs as well.
Top of the pile is Tory councillor Mel Kendal
who claimed a total of £60,958 for his job as
Cabinet member for environment and his role
as leader of New Forest District Council and
the national park authority, while also running
a business as an investment consultant.
Lib Dem councillor Keith House, who is a fulltime
politician, claimed £54,092 for his role
shadowing Cllr Kendal on the county council,
for being leader of Eastleigh Borough Council,
a member of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue
Authority and SEEDA, the regional development
agency.
IsItFair campaigner Rosemary Conway, who
submitted evidence to the pay panel, said:
"Some of these may well be
estimable people. But clearly, even
if they are workaholics, arithmetic
shows a full-time employee
cannot really be putting in more
than a limited quota of hours on
their council work."
Cllr Thornber said the workload
of a county councillor should be
about two or three days a week
while a being Cabinet member
was a "full-time job".
He said Cllr Kendal fulfilled his
dual roles with "great difficulty"
and that he had discussed the
issue with him, although refused
to comment further.
"The only saving grace is many
district councils do their work in
the evening," Cllr Thornber said.
He said there were occasions
when the dual responsibilities
were in conflict.
"I've made it clear all along. The
fewer double hatters the better,"
he said.
Cllr Thornber said his Tory
administration was not seeking
any increases in allowances for
the "foreseeable future" and said
most councillors were
value for money.
"There are some members
who give extremely
good value for money.
There are some councillors
who, as expected in
any large organisation, only put in nominal
appearances, but I think it's a minority."
IsItFair is calling for councillors to fully
account for the work they actually do.
Cllr Thornber said he would prefer a return
to allowances for attendances, which were
scrapped under a shake-up of local government
in 2000.
The move saw the allowance bill for county
councillors rocket by more than 60 per cent the
following year to £632,000.
The three-man remuneration panel will compare
Hampshire, the third largest shire council in the country, to similar authorities
as well as the private sector.
The review will also look at
councillors' hours of work, levels
of responsibility, and
whether allowances should
increase to attract younger and
more ethnically diverse councillors.
Lib Dem councillor SamPayne,
25, the youngest on the authority,
has argued her council work prevented
her from being able to
hold a part-time job and the present
allowance on its own made it
impossible to get a mortgage.
But Mrs Melsom said
allowances, which are more than
many full-time workers get paid,
should not be regarded as an
alternative income for jobless
councillors.
She told the pay panel: "We
cannot realistically expect that
the council should reflect every
age group and minority group,
nor would this necessarily be
desirable.
"Any move toward regarding it
as obligatory to have such a composition,
we would see as dangerously
politically correct, and
motivated by this wish to justify
raising allowances."
Cllr Thornber said allowances
were unlikely to be an incentive
to attract younger candidates in
the middle of their careers.
"We try to attract people who
have finished their careers and
are still active," added Cllr
Thornber.
Councillors agreed in
February to link their pay rise
this year to the national pay
award for staff.
That is still undecided after
unions voted for a two-day walkout
later this month in rejection
of a 2.45 per cent rise.
Cllr Thornber said: "We are
quite content to take whatever
local Government employees are
taking."
Southampton City Council is
yet to publish its allowances.
Read more today's Daily Echo
11:03am Thursday 3rd July 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Bill, Nomortgage-ville on 3:37pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Lib Dem councillor SamPayne, 25, the youngest on the authority, has argued her council work prevented her from being able to hold a part-time job and the present allowance on its own made it impossible to get a mortgage.
I suggest that she quit her position as councillor and get a full time job, so that she can get a mortgage.
Lib Dem councillor SamPayne, 25, the youngest on the authority, has argued her council work prevented her from being able to hold a part-time job and the present allowance on its own made it impossible to get a mortgage.
I suggest that she quit her position as councillor and get a full time job, so that she can get a mortgage.
Posted by: Mugabe on 5:01pm Wed 2 Jul 08
The price of democracy? lol.
We are not a democracy.
The price of democracy? lol.
We are not a democracy.
Posted by: Christine Melsom Isitfair on 8:20pm Wed 2 Jul 08
'Councillors want to know whether they are being paid enough for their work'
More to the point, are they being paid too much?
'Councillors want to know whether they are being paid enough for their work'
More to the point, are they being paid too much?
Posted by: Derek, Dibden Purlieu on 10:01pm Wed 2 Jul 08
[quote]"I've made it clear all along. The fewer double hatters the better,"[/quote]
....says two faced Thornber who has two hats himself. Why does this man find the truth so difficult to tell?
"I've made it clear all along. The fewer double hatters the better,"
....says two faced Thornber who has two hats himself. Why does this man find the truth so difficult to tell?
Posted by: Christine Melsom Isitfair, Hampshire on 10:34pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Derek can You please tell me which other hat Councillor Thornber wears? I know he is the Leader but what is the other one?
Derek can You please tell me which other hat Councillor Thornber wears? I know he is the Leader but what is the other one?
Posted by: watcher on 11:07pm Wed 2 Jul 08
[quote][bold]Christine Melsom Isitfair[/bold] wrote:
Derek can You please tell me which other hat Councillor Thornber wears? I know he is the Leader but what is the other one?[/quote] If he doesn't now, he certainly has in the past, looking at his CV. Besides, Thornber heads the council, so why allow these "double hatters"?
Sean Woodward's another one. Council leadership, county councillor, PUSH, HPA, Hamble, more committee memberships than you can throw a stick at, full time employment, a healthcare business, and a healthy property portfolio. How does HE manage to fit all that in?
Christine Melsom Isitfair wrote:
Derek can You please tell me which other hat Councillor Thornber wears? I know he is the Leader but what is the other one?
If he doesn't now, he certainly has in the past, looking at his CV. Besides, Thornber heads the council, so why allow these "double hatters"?
Sean Woodward's another one. Council leadership, county councillor, PUSH, HPA, Hamble, more committee memberships than you can throw a stick at, full time employment, a healthcare business, and a healthy property portfolio. How does HE manage to fit all that in?
Posted by: Christine Melsom Isitfair, Hampshire on 10:15am Thu 3 Jul 08
As Councillor Thornber says,the Cabinet style of Local Government is not his choice, and we all know what happened to allowances when it was introduced.
About half of the Councillors in Hampshire County Council are 'double hatters'.If
Councillor Thornber agrees that allowances are not meant to be a substitute for salaries, unfortunately the Government might not be of the same opinion: there are rumours (well founded) that 'salaries' will be introduced into local government. With these, can we expect our councillors to no longer sing in the choir? Will they demand prima donna status as do MPs? I would have thought that a basic allowance of nearly £12,000, plus pension rights, plus expenses was ample. After all, as long as they attend at least one meeting every six months, their knuckles will not be rapped too hard.
Councillors should be accountable to their electorate, details of what they do or don't do,including hours spent representing their voters, should be in their profile, and payment made accordingly.
As Councillor Thornber says,the Cabinet style of Local Government is not his choice, and we all know what happened to allowances when it was introduced.
About half of the Councillors in Hampshire County Council are 'double hatters'.If
Councillor Thornber agrees that allowances are not meant to be a substitute for salaries, unfortunately the Government might not be of the same opinion: there are rumours (well founded) that 'salaries' will be introduced into local government. With these, can we expect our councillors to no longer sing in the choir? Will they demand prima donna status as do MPs? I would have thought that a basic allowance of nearly £12,000, plus pension rights, plus expenses was ample. After all, as long as they attend at least one meeting every six months, their knuckles will not be rapped too hard.
Councillors should be accountable to their electorate, details of what they do or don't do,including hours spent representing their voters, should be in their profile, and payment made accordingly.
Posted by: watcher on 4:10pm Thu 3 Jul 08
Twelve grand for three hours' paper shuffling, nods and harumphings? Blimey! Sign me up today!
Twelve grand for three hours' paper shuffling, nods and harumphings? Blimey! Sign me up today!
Posted by: verdantbear, southamptonwoods on 5:16pm Thu 3 Jul 08
what about the expenses of our lovely southampton powers that be ? both councillors and heads of department can we discover their excesses (sorry expenses) ???
what about the expenses of our lovely southampton powers that be ? both councillors and heads of department can we discover their excesses (sorry expenses) ???
Posted by: Christine Melsom Isitfair, Hampshire on 9:07am Fri 4 Jul 08
I suggest you have a stiff scotch before you look. http://www.southampt
on.gov.uk/thecouncil
/thecouncil/organisa
tion/city-councillor
s/members-allowances
.asp
Copy and paste the above. It seems the latest on this site are for 2006/2007
If you don't like what you see join the campaign www.isitfair.co.uk
I suggest you have a stiff scotch before you look. http://www.southampt
on.gov.uk/thecouncil
/thecouncil/organisa
tion/city-councillor
s/members-allowances
.asp
Copy and paste the above. It seems the latest on this site are for 2006/2007
If you don't like what you see join the campaign www.isitfair.co.uk
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