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Hammersmith and Fulham Makes Rotten Boroughs Again

Private Eye this week yet again have featured H&F Council this time for paying £1,000 a DAY to a Council leader fat cat who was already claiming a large pension having retired from another borough. The Council already has some of the highest paid Council employees in the country and Private Eye points out that it is becoming a common dodge to employ highly paid staff on a consultancy basis to avoid public scrutiny.

Karen Cooper ● 5196d6 Comments

I thought we were all in this together?

Alexander Smith ● 5174d

There is an interesting item on the BBC site today on this subject:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12521580Over half of private sector employers are unwilling to consider former public sector workers because they don't have the requisite business skills. You could staff town halls with more effective and cheaper workers but those that they replace wouldn't be able to get work elsewhere.

Paul Corcoran ● 5179d

There seems to be a potential conflict developing between Eric Pickles wanting to make Town Halls more transparent about the high salaries paid to employees and the growth in these consultancy deals. I'd accept that you should pay to get the best people but there are legions of highly experienced and talented managers in their mid-forties and early fifties in the commercial sector who have had responsibility for budgets in excess of a Council department who would bring a huge amount of benefit to local Government. However, these people are rarely if ever employed by Councils even though they would probably be prepared to work for much lower salaries. This suggests that getting to the top in local government is more about knowing the system than talent and expertise.

Andy Jones ● 5182d

Thanks for replying. He may be doing a good job but why not put him on the payroll proper? The vast majority of jobs cut at H&F over the last few years have been lower pay ones. The organisation already looks top heavy and disguising the number of higher paid employees by using consultancy arrangements suggests that it may be more so.

Karen Cooper ● 5193d

He may well be good value for the residents of H&F but that clearly doesn't apply to the borough where he was currently employed who now have to fund a very large pension for him.The burden of public sector pensions is going to be much, much larger than the banking sector bailout and it does seem wrong that someone can 'retire' from one borough and take employment with another. The problem that most people had with MPs expenses was not that the rules were being broken but that the rules themselves were framed to the benefit of those in power with no sense of equity. This case is an example of the same thing. Nick Johnson is doing nothing wrong according to the rules but it is wrong that he is able to do it.

Paul Corcoran ● 5194d

He is well paid but he has also done a good job.What was unpleasant about the Private Eye story was their insinuation that he wasn't really ill. In fact he had a heart attack and two heart operations.More details on links below:http://hfconservatives.typepad.com/residents_first/2011/02/private-eye-repeat-their-insinuation-that-nick-johnson-was-not-really-ill.html#tphttp://hfconservatives.typepad.com/residents_first/2010/11/nick-johnson-is-good-value-for-money.html#tp

Harry Phibbs ● 5196d