Hammersmith & Fulham Council is set to freeze councillors' allowances for the fourth year running while cutting council tax by 3.75%.
At a Budget Council meeting later this month (Feb 29) councillors are expected to agree the move which would see their basic rate allowance remain at £8,940 – exactly the same as it was in 2008. The freeze will give H&F the lowest councillors’ allowances in inner London and the fifth lowest in the capital.
Cabinet members, and councillors with special responsibilities, will also see their allowances remain the same.
Councillor allowances across Britain have risen by around 150 per cent since 2005 according to some reports but in Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) the increase has only been eight per cent during the same period.
The council is also planning to cut council tax for the fifth year out of six at the same meeting – meaning the average local taxpayer will be £243 better off compared to the average Londoner. The move is set to take H&F’s council tax level to the third lowest in the UK.
"H&F Council is the value for money council. We don’t just talk about ‘more for less’ we are delivering it.
“Like all councils we are facing a significant squeeze on our finances, due to the need to tackle the nation’s debt crisis, so it is only fair that councillors continue to do their bit by freezing our
allowances again.”
The former UK ‘Council of the Year’ is also on course to cut its historic debt from £176million to a projected £94 million by the end of the 2012/13 financial year saving taxpayers £7.1 million in debt repayments every year.
The reductions in council debt and council tax and the freeze in members’ allowances is possible partly due to the fact the council is combining some services with neighbouring authorities. Management and
overhead costs will be cut in half, according to the council, saving H&F taxpayers £3.2 million in 2012/13 alone.
Cllr Phibbs added:
“We are leading the way in sound financial management which has led to lower tax bills, lower debt and better services.”
The news about councillors' allowances comes as the catering bill for council committee meetings looks on track to be halved - down from £9,718 in 2010/11. Members will formally decide whether to freeze
allowances at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday, February 29. For more on the council’s budget visit www.lbhf.gov.uk/budget.
Kingston - £7,528
Brent - £7,974
Harrow - £8,160
Merton - £8,694
H&F - £8,940
Westminster - £9,000
Hounslow - £9,276
Richmond - £9,400
Bexley - £9,418
Camden - £9,654
Ealing - £9,612
Islington - £9,698
Lewisham - £9,812
Hackney - £9,943
Waltham Forest - £10,000
Barking & Dagenham - £10,006
Tower Hamlets - £10,065
Redbridge - £10,138
Sutton - £10,191
Havering - £10,208
Greenwich - £10,210
Hillingdon - £10,481
Haringey - £10,500
Enfield - £10,570
Barnet - £10,597
K&C - £10,597
Lambeth - £10,597
Southwark - £10,599
Newham - £10,734
Bromley - £10,872
Wandsworth - £10,957
Croydon - £11,239
Comments