Action not words needed to tackle excessive TfL bonuses- Pidgeon (Newham Borough Liberal Democrats)

Newham Borough Liberal Democrats <info@libdems.org.uk>

Action not words needed to tackle excessive TfL bonuses- Pidgeon

February 11, 2009 2:30 PM
Originally published by London Assembly Liberal Democrats

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Transport Assembly spokesperson, commenting on Boris Johnson's reply to her questioning about TfL bonus payments for senior managers said:

"It is extremely disappointing that that the Mayor is not willing to give a firm commitment to curtail the bonus culture within TfL. The salaries and especially the bonus payments for senior TfL managers are excessive and it is time that they were drastically cut. Boris Johnson's promise to merely 'review' the situation falls far short of what hard pressed passengers expect of the Mayor.

"Only this week the Mayor has made forceful comments about the bonus payments made to bankers. The Mayor should spend less time writing newspaper columns about issues he cannot control and instead turn his attention to addressing something that he is directly responsible for."

ENDS

Details of TfL bonus payments to senior managers are set out in the enclosed question asked by Caroline Pidgeon on 12th November 2008.

Question by Caroline Pidgeon

Please provide me with the number of LDA and TfL employees awarded performance bonuses, and the value of these bonuses, in the last financial year, and the total paid out by each organisation.

Answer by Boris Johnson

LDA

In the financial year 2007/08, 63 of the LDA's employees received a bonus of 7% of salary (pro rata if less than one year's service) in accordance with the rules of our Performance Management Scheme. The total cost of bonuses paid out was £260, 000.

TfL

Individual performance awards are mainly paid to Senior Managers, Chief Officers and the Commissioner at TfL against the following criteria:

Overall performance of TfL;
The performance of the Business Unit/Mode, measured against its business scorecard;
An individual's performance relative to others in the Business Unit

In the 2007/08 financial year, 677 TfL employees were paid a performance bonus award. The total value of these performance bonuses was £2,923,179.