The 137 times table = lashings of gravy

Mr Mustard followed a tweet by Barnet Bugle to a FOI request refusal by Barnet Council in relation to the outside interests of Officers ( employees ) in which they say they are livid ( Mr Mustard can see the steam rising from where he sits at Mustard Mansions ) and you can read that for yourself here

Livid or what

Anyway the interesting part of the answer for Mr Mustard, well the only part of the answer as the rest was refused, is that there are 137 officers ( employees ) who earn £70,000 or more. Someone, somewhere, somehow needs to stop this race to millionaire status for glorified town hall clerks. Can or will Councillors start to intervene so they don't have to cut essential services instead.

137 employees ( not sure if Contractors like Mr Traversty and his £1,000 a day have been included in the non-reply ) at £70,000 = an overhead of at least £9.5million and more probably in the £12m to £15million range. Surely we could have "better services for less money" will half as much management ? as the staff would then be unable to get on without hindrance. £50million needs saving over 3 years. If just £1,700,000 a year were taken out of the top management structure then 10% of the saving would be achieved over 3 years.

Go on Nick Walkley get the long knife out and cut a few posts. Not yours of course. Although you cut take a hatchet to your pay to prove that we are all in this together.

Gravy Train - Column 3 of 8

Column 3 of the chart covers Children's Services which are important. There are 5 senior employees listed. Starting at the top :-

Director of Children's Services - Mr Robert McCulloch-Graham

on a salary of £165,504

This is what he said in September 2010 ( see the full article in the Barnet Times )

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/topstories/8369022._Armageddon__warning_for_children_s_services/

CHILDREN'S services in Barnet are facing “financial armageddon” as the council prepares to lose £18 million in grants to help look after youngsters.

The council is limited in what it can provide, with an estimated overspend on this year's budget of more than £840,000.

Robert McCulloch-Graham, head of children's services, told members of the budget scrutiny committee: “These are very difficult times we're entering into. We've called it financial armageddon in children's services as everything has come at the same time.

We've had the general reduction everyone is facing but we're also expecting to lose £18m of grants while facing an increase in demand at the same time.

All this coming together does make it particularly challenging for us.”

Armageddon does not seem to have affected his salary, funny that ! Come on, 20% off leaves you on £132,403 - you could manage on that surely ?

Deputy Director - Children's Services - Jay Mercer

on a salary of £124,354

Acting Assistant Director - Children's Social Care - Marion Ingram

on a salary of £91,215
now replaced I think by Ann Graham in a permanent capacity. Salary to be confirmed.

Assistant Director - Schools & Learning - Mick Quigley

on a salary of £91,215 ( an obviously popular salary )

Assistant Director – Policy, Performance and Planning - Val White

on a salary of £86,823

It is the position and the salary that matters more than the person so if any of these people have moved on recently Mr Mustard will update this blog.

So there we are, just the top tier of management in this service costs £559,111 ( + on costs ) each year. The next layer of management can be found under "Pages" at the top right of the blog.

There are no little Mustardlings so Mr Mustard will leave it to others to comment upon the size and value of this service.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard 

Gravy Train - column 2 of 8

So here we are looking at the second column of the Barnet Council corporate structure chart.

A clearer image is available here.

http://www.barnet.gov.uk/interim-corporate-management-chart-23dec10-2.pdf

This second column covers the Chief Executive's Service.

Firstly of course we have the Chief Exec himself. The very expensive cheese, Mr Nick Walkley, who is paid the staggering sum of £200,976 a year. What is more, for some elections he is also the Returning Officer and gets more money. For being the Returning Officer at the last General Election he trousered another £11,038 which although I think it comes from central funds takes Mr Walkley away from his normal duties. You ought to take a Council pay cut of part of the Returning Officer fee, to be fair, in these straightened times Mr Walkley as we all in it together.

Then there are 4 senior posts in this Service.

1. The Assistant Chief Executive - Zina Etheridge - I can't share the job description with you as it is being updated at the moment. Mrs Etheridge is on secondment from DIUS ( Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills ) & collects £90,000+ a year which comes out of Barnet's coffers.

2. Interim Assistant Director of Communications - Chris Palmer - a contractor paid through Renouval Ltd - £39,312 in January to March 2011. Here is a cut and paste of the Purpose of the Job ( Hang on a minute, if it is a job shouldn't it be on PAYE - that system is for taxing jobs )

Purpose of  the Job:

• As a member of the senior leadership team, to contribute to the overall leadership, direction and management of the service in the context of local and national priorities
• To provide a professional lead across the council, and partner organisations, on all aspects of external communications ( from here on the Communications aspect of the job seems to get diluted )
• Drive the improvement/transformation agenda across communications profession and develop capacity in key areas to support services in meeting local and Corporate objectives ( aren't lots of other consultants already doing this ? )
• To be a key player within the service in a management capacity who is actively seeking and applying best practice and innovative methods of service delivery.
• To promote and safeguard the welfare of vulnerable people, ensuring this principle, culture and practice is embedded throughout all council services, including stakeholders and partners in compliance with national and local procedures and protocols,
• To provide excellent services to ensure that council overarching policies and strategies are in accordance  in accordance with the Council’s constitution, budget allocation and statutory requirements. ( yes the original does have "in accordance" twice - sloppy )
• To be responsible to the Director for the effective management and efficient performance of communications policy and strategy ( he doesn't report to a Director ? )
• To ensure that all activities across the Council are managed within the broader context of future shape ( a bit out of date, isn't this called One Barnet now ? )
• To act as a change agent to assist the council manage and implement change programmes
• To lead by example and effectively manage people, projects and budgets effectively at all times

3. Then there used to be Gavin Lambert - Assistant Director of Strategy who used to get at least £88,104 but has evidently made a strategic exit as the post is currently not filled. So here is the purpose of the job

Purpose of Job:

The council and its partners face big strategic challenges.  We know our budgets will reduce significantly over the next few years, at a time when residents are increasingly less satisfied with our services, but expect more from us; and big policy problems remain. ( This is not a purpose but a preamble: "increasingly less satisfied" - bit of a mouthful )

Our response to these challenges has been to develop the One Barnet programme founded on three principles:  developing a new relationship with our citizens, working collectively across the public and third sectors in Barnet and delivering a relentless focus on efficiency. ( more pointless waffle which hasn't yet led to any concrete improvements )

The postholder has a central role to play in supporting the Assistant Chief Executive to shape and drive delivery of this transformation programme, whilst ensuring the delivery of existing services.   ( no wonder the job can be left unfilled )

4. Then finally in this column we have Richard Grice the Assistant Director of Customer Services ( & Libraries depending on which bit of Barnet Council paper you read ). He gets £104,673 for the following job. This time it is headed "Purpose of the Role" - no consistency at Barnet it would seem.

·        As a member of the senior leadership team, to contribute to the overall leadership, direction and management of the service in the context of local and national priorities

·        To provide a professional lead across the service on Customer Services

·        Drive the improvement/transformation agenda within the service and develop capacity in key areas to support services in meeting local and Corporate objectives

·        To be a key player within the service in a management capacity who is actively seeking and applying best practice and innovative methods of service delivery.

·        To promote and safeguard the welfare of vulnerable people, ensuring this principle, culture and practice is embedded throughout all Council services, including stakeholders and partners in compliance with national and local procedures and protocols,

·        To provide excellent services to ensure high quality (internal and external) customer services in accordance with the Council’s constitution and policies, budget allocation and statutory requirements.

·        To be responsible to the Director for the effective management and efficient performance of people, processes and use of resources within the service

·        To ensure that all activities across the Council are managed within the broader context of future shape

·        To act as a change agent to assist the Council manage and implement change programmes

To lead by example and effectively manage people, projects and budgets effectively at all times

Now if I didn't know better I would think that I had read this waffle somewhere before - on yes, higher up the page. Do you, dear reader, have any real idea what is done for over £100,000 p.a. No, nor me.

So there we are, just 5 people, that's all they are, just 5 human beings and between them they pocket at least £639,000. Its obscene isn't it.

And there are 6 more columns of the corporate structure chart still to go. 

Yours frugally


Mr Mustard

Gravy train. Column #1 of 8

Most people know how many chiefs there are at Barnet Council but I still thought it might be worthwhile to blog about them. The snag is that the "corporate structure chart" is so big that it won't fit into one blog. Here is a link to it.

http://www.barnet.gov.uk/interim-corporate-management-chart-23dec10-2.pdf

I am going to blog just one column at a time. At the top is Nick Walkley on a mere £200,976 per annum . How does he get by ?

So the first column of the structure is Adult Social Services.

Adult Social Services 

 Kate Kennally 

 Acting Director of

Adult Social Services

£145,000

Alison Kemp Associate Director – Partnerships and Planning

paid by Barnet PCT

£75,000 - £80,000

Glynnis Joffe 

 Acting Deputy Director of Adult Social Services

£109,782

Mathew Kendall 

 Assistant Director – Transformation and Resources

£91,215

You would feel transformed by a salary of £91,215 wouldn't you ?

 

So there we are, just £420,997 for the first column of 8 on the interim corporate structure chart. 

Yours frugally


Mr Mustard