Consultants and rents in Lambeth - More cream for fat cats

Two reports in Friday's South London Press, one of which is below, reporting that Lambeth Council are seriously considering increasing council rents in the borough by 5% after last year's massive increase which was the highest in England. This is followed by the news that the disastrous ALMO, Lambeth Living, which Labour Lambeth pushed through against the wishes of many council tenants and leaseholders, has been paying megabucks to consultants. I guarantee a lot of angry tenants at Thursday's meeting of the Tenant Council at the Town Hall - and they are right to be. Once again Labour Lambeth demonstrates that the only ones who are doing better under its control are the fat cats. No wonder even Labour's semi-detached MP, Kate Hoey, is denouncing the proposed rent increases in the South London Press.

http://www.southlondonpress.co.uk/tn/News.cfm?id=1506&headline=Lambeth tenants facing huge hikes

Lambeth Living spent £1m on consultants

THE firm that runs social housing in a borough paid more than £1million to consultants in just eight months, it has been revealed.
Lambeth Living was set up by the borough’s Labour leaders to manage its stock of more than 30,000 council-owned homes.
New figures show it doled out £1,068,675 on consultants between April and November last year.
During the same period, more than £634,000 was spent on temporary staff and a further £256,000 on senior management.
The total company payroll cost for the eight months was £10.25million, meaning more than 10 per cent of the wage bill was paid to consultants.
Opposition Tory leader Councillor John Whelan said: “The only way to improve the service is by recruiting good full-time staff and giving them the responsibility for sorting out the mess.”
Last year, the South London Press revealed some consultants employed by Lambeth Living were earning more than £3,000 a week and racking up huge travel and hotel expenses.
Lambeth Living director of resources Terry Gallagher said the number of temporary staff and consultants had been reduced.
He said it was common practice for a new organisation to employ such staff initially before moving to permanent staff.