Boris Johnson has personally vetoed pay rises for the 20 or more lowest paid in City Hall who earn less than a 20th of his annual income when his earnings from outside interests are taken into account.
The London Mayor has insisted that giving a 4 per cent rise to security and support staff earning between £18,097 and £22,916 would put up inflation in the capital.
Mr Johnson earns £143,911 as Mayor and declares earned income of £250,000 as a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, plus more as a book reviewer for the Mail on Sunday and two current book contracts. When he had to put figures on his outside income as an MP, it was one of the highest in Parliament, thought to be around £400,000 a year. He has described his Telegraph contract as “chicken feed”.
His attitude – which is even more draconian than Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, who allowed pay rises this year for those earning less than £21,000 in Whitehall – is revealed in a letter to Unison from chief executive Leo Boland. In it, Mr Boland writes, that while he put the case for a 4 per cent rise, the Mayor rejected it, saying he does not support “Unison’s proposal to pay an inflationary pay award to any staff.”
Mr Boland earns more than £200,000 a year and his pay rise last year was £22,000 – 12 per cent – equivalent to the entire salary of each of the lowest-paid.
There is money available at City Hall to pay the increase – £360,000 was put aside at the beginning of the financial year for pay awards. The increase would only cost £50,000 – leaving £310,000 in savings.
Now staff at the very bottom will take the equivalent of a big pay cut – as inflation is rising, VAT is about to go up by 2.5 per cent and the Mayor has imposed higher than inflation fare rises on the buses and London Underground.
The Mayor’s office has found more money to pay policy advisors. He is also to spend £45,000 on an additional advisor in advance of the 2012 mayoral elections.
A spokeswoman from the Mayor’s office said: “The GLA pay freeze was decided by the head of Paid Service, not the Mayor, in line with the settlement agreed by the National Joint Council for Local Authorities. GLA staff will all receive their incremental increases. Leo Boland consulted the Mayor and Assembly on his proposal, but the final decision was his, not the Mayor’s.”
