Introducing Some of Scotland's 'Low Paid' Councillors
I am building up quite a collection of Scottish councillors (past and present) who are not low paid at all, despite bogus claims to the contrary.
In fact they all earn more than the majority of Scotland's council workers, a good deal more in some cases.
Interestingly most part-time, backbench councillors have been able to find other jobs, if they need an extra source of income - some have other responsibilities, eg caring.
Disturbingly, lots of senior councillors have 2nd and 3rd jobs as well even though these senior roles have been previously assessed as full-time and get paid full-time salaries.
So the system is clearly being 'milked' - by some at least.
Yet SNP ministers handed all councillors a 5.2% pay increase this year, on top of a 4.2% rise last year, with the promise of more to come in 2023 after a pay review cooked up by the Scottish Government and COSLA.
Feel free to bring other examples from around Scotland to my attention as I'm happy to share these on the blog.
Introducing Some of Scotland's 'Low Paid' Councillors (1)
By my reckoning Mhairi was probably earning £45,000 to £50,000 as a senior Glasgow councillor, as a Member of Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS and as Nicola Sturgeon's 'Office Assistant'.
I did ask former Mhairi Hunter and Nicola Sturgeon to confirm the time commitment and cost of the Office Assistant post, but strangely both SNP politicians have declined to be open and transparent about this use of public money.
Mhairi Hunter - My Part In Her Downfall! (May 06, 2022)
Glaswegian Heads Don't Button Up The Back (April 28, 2022)
- Member of Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board
- Part-time Office Assistant to Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow Southside
It's A Fair Question, Nicola! (March 17, 2022)
I think we should be told how Cllr Mhairi Hunter manages her Glasgow council job which is paid a full-time salary - while also drawing another public salary as Office Assistant for Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP MSP and Scotland's first minister.
Transparent and Accountable - Who's Kidding Who? (February 26, 2022)
SNP politicians are forever boasting about their support for openness and transparency.
But when the chips are down the SNP are every bit as secretive, defensive and reluctant to be held accountable - just as Labour run Glasgow City Council were in 2011 and as the Westminster Tories are now.
Take my perfectly reasonable requests to Nicola Sturgeon and her 'office assistant', Cllr Mhairi Hunter.
I wrote to Nicola Sturgeon asking how she could justify using public money in this way when Cllr Hunter already had a well paid, full-time job as a senior councillor at SNP led Glasgow City Council.
No Answer.
I also wrote to Cllr Hunter directly asking broadly the same question because her role as a Council Convener is a city wide responsibility and is not restricted to her local ward of Southside Central.
No answer.
Now I think politicians should be held to account for their behaviour and use of public money which is why we are entitled to see what salaries and expenses councillors, MSPs, MPs get paid.
Politicians are also required to declare other interests and connections which must be registered and are subject to further scrutiny, as necessary.
So how can it be fair or reasonable to hide and withhold this particular information from public view and scrutiny?
Other council workers, indeed other public sector workers, would not be allowed to behave in this way - there would be questions asked and rightly so, if they sought work or were required to work excessive/impossible hours.
Ironically, a row broke out recently over the hours a Green Minister, Lorna Slater, was being asked/expected to work at COP26 which lasted just two weeks!
In any event, there's more than one way to skin a cat and there's still plenty of time between now and the Glasgow council elections in May to keep highlighting the SNP's hypocrisy on this issue.
Who's Kidding Who? (December 13, 2021)
A number of my regular blog readers have asked how Cllr Mhairi Hunter can be doing all her publicly funded jobs at the same time.
I don't know, is the honest answer - seems impossible to me and although I have written to Cllr Hunter and her boss (Nicola Sturgeon) so far neither of them seems too willing to explain what is going on.
I did check on what health board members get paid and the answer is that their remuneration of £8,842 is based on a time commitment of 52 days per year or an average of 8 hours per week.
So that's a full-time role as a Convener in Glasgow City Council (@£28,000 plus expenses), another day a week at Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS (@£9,000) - a running total of @£37,000 - and still Cllr Hunter has had time to spend at Nicola Sturgeon's office in Glasgow Southside.
Who's kidding who?
Introducing Some of Scotland's 'Low Paid' Councillors (2)
SNP - Scandal Over Councillors Pay (April 26, 2022)
As well as being SNP led these two councils have a cavalier approach to public money and councillors pay.
In Clackmannanshire the SNP leader of the local council doubles up as the Office Manager of the local SNP MSP, Keith Brown who is also Scotland's justice minister.
The jobs of council leaders across Scotland are classified as full-time jobs and paid accordingly.
So how does the SNP justice minister justify and explain this arrangement?
The answer is he doesn't, of course, nor does the Council Leader, Cllr Ellen Forson, and both seem to be taking a 'no comment' leaf out of Nicola Sturgeon's book in Glasgow - where a similar scam involving public money is in operation.
As regular readers know, Nicola Sturgeon employs her friend Cllr Mhairi Hunter as an Office Assistant despite the fact that Cllr Hunter has a full-time job with Glasgow City Council and another 1 day a week commitment with the NHS.
Now this stinks to high heaven if you ask me because the independence of local councillors has to be badly compromised if they depend on a friendly SNP MSP (and Scottish Minister) for a significant part of their income.
Covid, Councils and Competing Demands (April 02, 2022)
Keith Brown, the SNP MSP and Scotland's justice minister, is isolating after testing positive for Covid.
In his absence Keith's Office Manager, Cllr Ellen Forson, will no doubt step up to the plate while continuing in her day job as SNP Leader of Clackmannanshire Council - a post held previously by Keith, if I remember correctly.
Are they having a laugh?
It's A Fair Question, Keith! (February 28, 2022)
Clackmannanshire may be Scotland's smallest mainland council, but it's up there with Glasgow as an example of how to bring local government and local democracy into disrepute.
The role of council leader is designated as a full-time job, but incredibly the SNP leader of Clackmannanshire Council, Cllr Ellen Forson, also acts as the Office Manager to the local SNP MSP - Keith Brown who also happens to be the Scottish Government's justice minister.
So we now have three senior Scottish Ministers (Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and Keith Brown) all using public money to employ local SNP councillors in their local constituency offices.
Despite the fact that their employees were also carrying out full-time roles and being paid full-time salaries for their respective councils.
Now if something walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I tend to call it a duck and in this case all the evidence says that SNP MSPs have been misusing public money, as part of a well organised racket, to employ friends and political allies.
The SNP has also conveniently abolished the independent watchdog SLARC (Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee) which worked with Scotland's councils and provided Scottish Ministers with independent advice on councillors' pay and expenses.
Here's a letter I've sent to the Leader of Clackmannanshire Council which refers to the Nolan principles on standards in public life.
Dear Cllr Forson
to the post of Office Manager?
Introducing Some of Scotland's 'Low Paid' Councillors (3)
Glasgow Councillors - Cllr Rhiannon Spear (April 27, 2022)
SNP Glasgow councillor Rhiannon Spear is not standing in next week's local elections - not surprisingly given reports that she was in arrears with her council.
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/interests.asp?id=2392&name=Rhiannon+Spear
Cllr Spear's entry in the GCC 'Register of Interests' records that she has been paid by Aamer Anwar & Co (Solicitors) for ad hoc work since August 2021 although there is no explanation of the time commitment involved.
Cllr Spear's council salary up to the end of the 3rd quarter 2021/22 came to £20,469.05 which grosses up to earnings in excess of £27,000 for a full year.
Seems to me the SNP owe Glasgow an apology for allowing Cllr Spear to remain in a leadership position while she was not in good standing with her council tax - which supports local council services, of course.
Glasgow SNP - Shameless Shower (January 25, 2022)
The SNP group on Glasgow City Council are a shameless shower because there is absolutely no excuse for a councillor, especially one in a leadership position with an enhanced salary, not to pay their council tax.
Yet the SNP are allowing Cllr Rhiannon Spear to portray herself as some kind of victim instead of insisting she stands down immediately from her role as Convener of Education which attracts a salary of around £30,000.
Politicians in leadership positions should be called to account if they mess up, instead of being allowed to make excuses for themselves.
The SNP and Cllr Spear owe Glasgow an apology.
SNP Owe Glasgow An Apology (January 05, 2022)
The SNP owe Glasgow an apology following the incredible news that a senior party figure, Cllr Rhiannon Spear, is in arrears with her council tax.
Cllr Spear occupies a leadership position in Glasgow City Council and receives a salary of around £30,000 as Chair of Education.
Cllr Spear received a £10,000 increase in salary from being appointed to this senior council position, yet is in arrears with her council tax which supports local jobs and services.
Just as astonishing is the fact that the SNP group made this appointment without checking that Cllr Spear was a fit and proper person to hold a senior leadership position.
I also wonder what questions were asked by senior council officials, or were they encouraged to stay quiet and turn a blind eye?
In a previous entry to the City Council's register of interests Cllr Spear recorded earning additional remuneration from "Air BnB: irregular income from spare bedroom" and Cllr Spear's latest entry states: "August 2021 onwards - Aamer Anwar & Co - remuneration for ad hoc work".
Tawdry and shameful are words that spring to mind, but the SNP clearly owe Glasgow an apology and the party should now require Cllr Spear to stand down immediately from her leadership role as Chair of Education.
Introducing Some of Scotland's 'Low Paid' Councillors (4)
Since I wrote the original post in this series on councillors' pay - the salary of Glasgow City Council's leader, Cllr Susan Aitken, has jumped up to £58,719
Yes, a whopping increase of £5,152 or 9.4% - in the space of just one year.
Yet a Glasgow council employee on the same salary scale as Cllr Aitken £53,567 will have seen their pay rise by just 1% - or a mere £536.
How can this be social justice and political leadership from the SNP?
Glasgow Councillors - Meet Cllr Aitken (May 03, 2022)
I said I would revisit the issue of councillor salaries in Glasgow ahead local council elections, so where better to start than with the SNP Leader, Cllr Susan Aitken.
Cllr Aitken declares a salary of £55, 817 on the council's Register of Interests unlike many of her SNP colleagues who fail to declare their council salaries on the register.
I suspect this is because councillors are not keen for the wider public to understand that they are, in fact, relatively well paid and not low paid.
Now according to the council register Cllr Aitken does not have any other paid employment which is exactly what you would expect, of course.
Because her job as Council Leader has been previously assessed as a full-time role and every local council across Scotland has an agreed allocation of senior (full-time) and backbench (part-time) councillors.
But what Cllr Aitken's entry does not explain is that her £55,817 salary jumped by 4.2% in 2021 - an increase of £2,250 on top of her previous year's salary of £53,567.
Whereas a Glasgow council employee on the same salary (£53,567) as Cllr Aitken saw their pay rise by just 1% - or £536 a year.
Team Sturgeon - High Horses, Pay Rises and Backyards (March 16, 2022)
Nicola Sturgeon is on her high horse about politicians in Westminster accepting pay rises which she seems to think are unfair, but is less keen on what's happening in her own Glasgow backyard.
The First Minister had nothing to say about the bumper 4.2% pay rise awarded to the SNP leader of Glasgow City Council, Cllr Susan Aitken, when other staff on the same salary received an increase of just 1%.
In fact Cllr Aitken's pay increase of £2,250 seems to have beat the increase of 'just over £2,200' paid to Westminster MPs - which includes SNP MPs, of course.
Now who thinks this is could be deliberate?
Scottish Ministers, Dodgy Deals and Council Bosses (March 11, 2022)
Gordy inquired about the pay rise awarded to Glasgow City Council's SNP leader, Cllr Susan Aitken.
And, yes, it's true - the SNP leader received a pay increase of 4.2% while council employees on the same salary were awarded just 1%.
So while the GCC leader says she can't understand why council employees are going on strike - I can't understand how SNP politicians can justify this dodgy councillor pay deal.
Scottish Ministers, Dodgy Deals and Council Bosses (February 08, 2022)
SNP supporters have been engaged in a silly row on social media over something which has zero impact on people's daily lives - the relative number (percentage) of Covid cases in Scotland compared to England.
Meanwhile SNP supporters are curiously silent over an issue which is of real significance to tens of thousands of council employees - the hugely better pay increase awarded to council bosses in Scotland.
Take Glasgow's council leader, Cllr Susan Aitken, as an example - Cllr Aitken received a 4.2% cost of living pay increase last year or an extra £2,250 on top of her old £53,567 salary.
Yet a council employee on the same salary as Cllr Aitken received just 1% - an increase of £536 (rounded up) on top of their £53,567 and a big difference of £1,714 a year.
Similar differences exist further down the council pay scales, but as an experienced negotiator, Unison's former Head of Local Government in Scotland and Joint Secretary of the COSLA bargaining machinery I can think of no good reason for council bosses being given such preferential treatment.
To my mind these pay arrangements are shameful and the exact opposite of leadership, yet they were introduced by Scottish Ministers back in 2017 and have been operating for the past 5 years - without any independent oversight.
For those keen on percentages the pay rise awarded to Cllr Aitken amounts to a 420% increase compared to a council employee in the same pay bracket.
Anyone for social justice and equal pay for work of equal value - instead of the SNP's hidden, deceitful and decidedly dodgy deals?
Introducing Some of Scotland's 'Low Paid' Councillors (5)
SNP Cllr Graham Campbell has been in the news recently and in this social media clip complains about not being compensated properly - even though he has one of the worst attendance records in Glasgow City Council.
Glasgow Councillors - Meet Cllr Graham Campbell (May 15, 2022)
The Glasgow Times reports that this SNP councillor, Cllr Graham Campbell, told a blatant lie about his council attendance record at an official elections hustings - in which case he was surely elected under false pretences.
Glasgow Councillors and Public Standards (May 15, 2022)
I think there must be a strong case for reporting the SNP's Graham Campbell to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life.
Not only has Cllr Campbell lied at an official hustings over his attendance at council meeting, he goes on to criticise the person who raised the issue and put him on the spot.
Read the full story in the link below to the Glasgow Times.
Glasgow SNP councillor blames 'meetings clashing' for poor attendance when no clashes existed.
By Stewart Patterson - Glasgow Times
SNP councillor has claimed his “inadequate” attendance at council meetings was due to times clashing with other committees he sat on, despite no clashes existing.
Graham Campbell, councillor for Springburn/ Robroyston, was challenged about his attendance, at a hustings in the ward before he was re-elected last week.
Last year the Glasgow Times had reported on the attendance rates of all 85 councillors, for the year 2020.
READ MORE: Low turnout sees councillors in Glasgow elected with backing of just 7 percent of electorate
Mr Campbell was one of the lowest with a rate of 50 %, attending 10 out of 20 meetings, 84th out of 85 councillors for attendance.
The report was part of a series where we revealed Tory councillor, Tony Curtis and Labour councillor, Jim Coleman were disqualified as councillors for non-attendance.
We also revealed how independent councillor, Russell Robertson, skipped a full council meeting for a midweek boozy break in Edinburgh with his partner.
And we revealed how Labour councillor, Hanif Raja, logged into one meeting remotely from Sri Lanka.
READ MORE: Thousands of votes did not count at the election in Glasgow last week
Mr Campbell was asked about this attendance by a questioner at the hustings, which was recorded and posted on social media and seen by the Glasgow Times.
In an attempt to explain, he said the article was “wrong” and then said he doesn’t get paid enough for all the committee work he is required to do.
Mr Campbell said at the hustings: “There was a sort of article about this, two years ago where an article in the Evening Times claimed my attendance record was inadequate. It’s not correct.
“First of all, for quite a large part of the first two years I was in office, the Licensing Committee, which meets three times a week, the one that’s most active, was clashing with the other committees I sat on.
“So, I would have to miss education or environment to attend. So, I gave my apologies to those, so my absence should not have been recorded as absences because I gave my apologies.
“So, they got that wrong. They didn’t take into account my attendance at SPT or the River Trust, all the other bodies I represent the council on, which is quite a lot.
“The committee work of the council is so vast, it nowhere near compensates for, the money you get paid.”
On investigation, his reasons contained a number of inaccuracies.
The Licensing Committee met a maximum of twice a week.
The Glasgow Times checked Mr Campbell’s committee membership and he was not on the licensing committee in 2020 and the committees he did sit on that year did not clash with one another.
For the early part of the term, 2017 to 2019, he was on the Licensing, Education and Environment committees.
However, again, meetings did not clash, and he was absent from several licensing committee meetings, which he claimed to be prioritising.
A snapshot of our record checking, from September 2017 to December 2017, found that councillor Campbell was not present for 11 licensing meetings out of 18: three out of five in September, four out of four in October, three out of six in November and one out of three in December. None of the meetings clashed with any other he was required at.
Sources said that council committee clerks endeavour to ensure there are no clashes.
Councillor Campbell did not respond to our specific question about meetings not clashing, instead, he said that the person who asked the question had come “especially from across town to noise me up”. He said he reported the man to the police and that he had tried to “hijack the hustings” and other candidates and volunteers condemned his “hostile behaviour”.
He added the man was “thrown out” after filming Mr Campbell’s response and he said the man “left saying ‘I got what I came for’ presumably meaning what he needed to put online.”
