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Hampshire’s county, city and district councillors allowances and expenses in 2009-10

12:10pm Thursday 2nd September 2010 in


COUNCILLORS across Hampshire have claimed more than £7m in allowances and expenses over the last year.

The total amount paid out by Hampshire County Council, Southampton and Portsmouth city councils and 11 district councils was £7.2m, according to figures compiled by anti-tax group IsItFair.

Hampshire County Council paid £1.3m to 78 county councillors plus £110,000 in expenses.

Most councillors who claim the largest amounts are “double hatters” sitting on county and district councils while in some cases holding jobs as well.

As each authority has its own system of pay and expenses, they can claim multiple allowances.

Three county councillors pocketed more than £50,000 in various allowances and expenses.

Topping the list was Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith House, a full-time politician, who claimed £55,961 as leader of the opposition on the county council, for being leader of Eastleigh Borough Council, a member of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority and SEEDA, the regional development agency.

Tory councillor Keith Chapman, 67, a retired manager, claimed £54,549 for his roles at the county council, as a former Cabinet member of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

The current system of allowances was first introduced in 1998 by Labour.

All councillors now get a basic allowance. An independent panel sets the amount in each authority. Winchester paid £5,833, Eastleigh £5,701, the New Forest £5,316 and Fareham £6,465.

£7.2m: That's how much was paid out to councillors last year

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Comments(14)

Brite Spark says...
12:19pm Thu 2 Sep 10

How they can get away with pocketing that much money whilst turning a blind eye to their staff taking four times as many 'sickies' as those in the private sector I'll never know.
Double Hatters? More like brown ones.

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News Fanatic says...
12:23pm Thu 2 Sep 10

The editor of the Echo does not work for nothing and nor should he. If the truth be know he is probably earning more than Keith House.
Councillors are rightly paid for giving up their time to serve others. Very few people would work for nothing and bear the responsibility of making decisions on the spending of millions of pounds.
I have worked it out from the figures given above that members of Hampshire County Council are receiving about £17,000pa on average. That, surely, is far from excessive. It is well below the average salary in the UK.
I am not a councillor and have no connection with any.

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Ben Durutti says...
12:24pm Thu 2 Sep 10

It's political correctness gone mad. I blame immigrants & the EU & you know what? I bet it'll be our taxes that pay for it.

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MartinWellbourne says...
12:33pm Thu 2 Sep 10

"The current system of allowances was first introduced in 1998 by Labour".
.
No doubt our Marxist friend will be along shortly to blame Thatcher.

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Brite Spark says...
12:36pm Thu 2 Sep 10

It's allowances which are paid on top of any salary that they already earn.

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DCM says...
1:15pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Brite Spark wrote:
It's allowances which are paid on top of any salary that they already earn.
They don't earn a salary from the council - the allowance is all they get. Some Councillors also work (not for the Council), but the salary they get is for their job, not their council work.

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Condor Man says...
1:22pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Councillors should able to claim for expenses in terms of loss of earnings and costs they incur doing their work. You will note that the current council in Southampton has actively reduced the amount of money paid to councillors.

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Ben Durutti says...
1:23pm Thu 2 Sep 10

No comment from L.A. O'Bee about this???

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goard says...
1:25pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Separating the wood from the trees, Councillors earn the amount they think they deserve - Councillors: 'do you have office cleaners, wives, bus and rail fares? cups of tea or coffee? Well so does the solicitors clerk - you have no idea what you are worth on jobs market - often the secretary is thought to be a jobsworth BUT, indeed, they know more than YOU DO!! your job would be worth nothing without those willing hands picking up behind you. THINK! what would you be worth on the job market? Sadly, anyone at the head of the firm are only as good as their servants.

goard

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binman1234 says...
3:24pm Thu 2 Sep 10

i live in merry oak and my counciler is fantastic he deserves every penny wat ever,,,,he is a shining light in our area and realy realy cares ,,and sorts out any problems in the area thanks sir for every thing you do for us in our area ..there is no one better placed or who lives local he has been serving the comunty for years and years

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Ohreally!! says...
3:51pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Oh the spelling!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!

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Michael S says...
3:58pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Whichever way you look at - with a national average council tax of £1,500 - £7.2m gobbles up the council tax of 4,800 homes - and that's before one bin gets emptied, one street is cleaned, one policeman, fireman or teacher starts work, etc.

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Christine Melsom says...
6:11pm Thu 2 Sep 10

If a leading Hampshire County Councillor is prepared to ditch the name 'allowances' and call their remuneration a salary, then that suits me. Believe me these figures could be a lot higher, each day more and more 'allowances' come to light. Seats on quangoes - £500 here and £500 there as a member of another committee - soon adds up to even more startling amounts of YOUR money. Soon councils will have to publish details of how they spend anything over £500. At the same time councillors should not only have to publish what positions they hold in ANY public sector organisation, or ANY positions they hold in the private sector where they represent local government, but also the amount of money they receive. If this happens, I think we could all be in for quite a shock.

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binman1234 says...
6:56pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Ohreally!! wrote:
Oh the spelling!!!!!!!!!!!! !!
just because my spelling is not good doesnt mean my coments are not

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