Ealing Council fat cats
It seems austerity isn’t extended to the senior executives at the council, where whopping salaries and pay increases are still the norm, despite all the claims that there’s insufficient money to cover essential services such as children’s centres.Chief executive Tony Clements earned himself a 10 percent pay rise last year, despite being almost invisible in the role. He now earns £224,538 a year, plus a whacking great contribution to his pension.In all there are 39 executives earning over £100,000 a year at the council, although questions should be asked if this is value for money considering many departments are underperforming and frequently find themselves on the end of rebukes from the Local Government Ombudsman.Meanwhile our ‘hard working councillors’ have themselves a nice increase in allowances last month, the third since Labour was re-elected in 2022. Cabinet members get almost £60,000, while Peter Mason pockets £76,500 for essentially being a used-car salesman for the borough.If you think cabinet members deserve this huge financial reward do consider ether some, such as Shital Manro, have no proper grasp of the portfolio for which they are responsible and really aren’t bothered by that. His performance at last month’s WEN meeting was cringeworthy, although he thinks an audience of white middle-class residents isn’t ’representative of the borough’!Cabinet meetings last half an hour or less. There’s no discussion or debate as everything is already decided by Mason and his inner cabal. They ought to be scrutinising policy and doing their due diligence on matters such as appointing building contractors. The failure of Henry Construction and the loss of £30-40 million is a case in point.Reports are compiled by council officers. Sometimes the cabinet members read them, sometimes not. They certainly don’t do the legwork.As council tax and other charges have just been increased maybe ask yourself if the money really is going where it’s needed. There’s an election in three weeks. Vote wisely.https://www.ealing.news/ealing-council/ealing-council-ceo-gets-20-5-pay-rise/
Simon Hayes ● 58d4 Comments ● 28d