Councillors are paid Allowances by Tower Hamlets Council, the amount depends on their status, for example Cabinet or Committee Chairs are paid Special Responsibility Allowances, I only receive the basic Councillor allowance which is £974.42 a month but after National Insurance is deducted the net amount I receive each month is £953.13 a month (see below) or £11,437 a year. We receive no pension.
Between June 2018 and February 2020 - I received a Special Responsibility Allowance worth £5,000 a year before taxes as Leader of the Conservative Group on the Council but that stopped when I stepped down as leader when I quit the Conservative Party.
In theory Allowances are meant to pay all of our expenses except extra travel and child care costs which can be claimed on top of Allowances which I have never done. This can be confirmed by looking at the most recent annual statements here
I also get a special car parking permit that allows me to park in Council parking bays across the Borough. We have access to Tower Hamlets Council IT systems via a Council supplied laptop and the use of desk phones & printers in Mulberry Place but I use my own phone and laptop.
But Councillor Allowances are also a form of salary for which we are supposed to be doing around 15 hours a week. Most Councillors work full time so a Councillor Allowance is not meant to be enough money to live on unlike an MP's salary which is a full time political role. There is no rule on how much allowances you use on expenses and how much is salary to pay for day to day living. It will fluctuate month to month and Cllr to Cllr.
So what have I spent my allowance on?
A lot of the money I have spent in the last 7 years has been related to my work on the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Planning Forum which I have funded myself until we receive funding from central government. I have been too busy to add it all up but I suspect I have spent most of my allowances on the items above.
However I should also declare that I have attended the following dinners at Conservative Party Conferences;
I have therefore decided to donate £100, £55 & £40 to Mudchute Farm (see receipt below) to cover any financial benefit I may have received from attending these dinners. I now donate £2 a month to Mudchute Farm to cover any such future benefits.
My most recent payslip is below, I have removed some personal information like address and bank account details
Between June 2018 and February 2020 - I received a Special Responsibility Allowance worth £5,000 a year before taxes as Leader of the Conservative Group on the Council but that stopped when I stepped down as leader when I quit the Conservative Party.
In theory Allowances are meant to pay all of our expenses except extra travel and child care costs which can be claimed on top of Allowances which I have never done. This can be confirmed by looking at the most recent annual statements here
I also get a special car parking permit that allows me to park in Council parking bays across the Borough. We have access to Tower Hamlets Council IT systems via a Council supplied laptop and the use of desk phones & printers in Mulberry Place but I use my own phone and laptop.
But Councillor Allowances are also a form of salary for which we are supposed to be doing around 15 hours a week. Most Councillors work full time so a Councillor Allowance is not meant to be enough money to live on unlike an MP's salary which is a full time political role. There is no rule on how much allowances you use on expenses and how much is salary to pay for day to day living. It will fluctuate month to month and Cllr to Cllr.
So what have I spent my allowance on?
- Printing - I have gone from owning only one small printer to 4 printers including two A3's and laser printer. I pay for paper and ink cartridges myself
- Land Registry searches to see who owns land in the area
- Website costs - I have paid for several pieces including the cost of this website
- Magazine subscriptions, I now subscribe to several specialist planning magazines
- Equipment - I use my own phone, Ipad and laptop so there is no additional costs although some of my data and phone costs are linked to extra useage. I did buy a portable projector to use at meetings.
- Having a car makes life as a Councillor a lot easier especially for carrying around boxes of leaflets but that incurs some extra costs mainly diesel
- But inevitably I get parking tickets a result (I did not have a single parking ticket before I was elected, have had two in 2018 from private contractors but have been fined by the Council for parking in the wrong type of bay)
- Meeting rooms - I pay £50 every time I use Alpha Grove Community Center for example
- Attending Conservative Party Conferences (which I can no longer do) - when you add up rail tickets, hotel, food, tickets that is equivalent to a months allowances but at Conference you can learn a lot of useful stuff and make useful contacts
- Jam Doughnuts & Chocolate - without which life would not be possible
A lot of the money I have spent in the last 7 years has been related to my work on the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Planning Forum which I have funded myself until we receive funding from central government. I have been too busy to add it all up but I suspect I have spent most of my allowances on the items above.
However I should also declare that I have attended the following dinners at Conservative Party Conferences;
- 2018 City Corporation/UK Finance
- 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 - Canary Wharf Group
- 2016 - two dinners: L&Q & CBI Housing dinner and another housing related dinner organised by (L&Q, Metropolitan, Midland Heart, Moat, One Housing, the National Housing Federation, 24 Housing and the Builders Merchants Federation). At both dinners there was a detailed conversation about housing issues.
I have therefore decided to donate £100, £55 & £40 to Mudchute Farm (see receipt below) to cover any financial benefit I may have received from attending these dinners. I now donate £2 a month to Mudchute Farm to cover any such future benefits.
My most recent payslip is below, I have removed some personal information like address and bank account details
