End of controversial ‘golden goodbyes’ agreed at Southwark council meeting 

Southwark council has agreed to scrap the controversial “golden goodbyes” payments to councillors.

At a council meeting last week, councillors agreed a report recommending changes to members’ allowances. 

The report recommended that “loss of office payments”, also known as golden goodbyes, be scrapped.

The payment has been controversial since its introduction in 2016 with Lib Dems campaigning against it for the past seven years.

However, the report also recommended Southwark council continue to pay out large additional allowances to committee chairs and other position holders.

These ‘Special Responsibility Allowances’ (SRAs) will see committee chairs paid thousands of pounds per meeting chaired for the next financial year.

The chairman of Southwark’s main scrutiny committee will receive £3,003 for each of the eight times the committee meets over the next 12 months.

 The additional yearly allowance for deputy cabinet members is set to increase by £6,609 for each of the four position holders.

The Southwark Lib Dem group proposed amendments to the report.

Southwark Liberal Democrat leader, Councillor Victor Chamberlain, said: “The culture of cronyism has grown out of control in Southwark and too many Labour councillors are being rewarded by the taxpayer unnecessarily.”

Councillor Kieron Williams, Leader of Southwark Council, said: “All councils are required to regularly review councillors allowances. This year’s changes are necessary to update the scheme and reflect changing workloads across a number of roles.

“All allowances continue to be at or below the level recommended by the Independent Panel on the Remuneration of Councillors in London.”

Pictured Top: Southwark council’s headquarters (Picture: Google Street View)