Sadiq Khan's staff at City Hall to top 1,000 next year under draft budget

London Mayor Sadiq Khan intends to recruit 92 more staff members at City Hall next year
Nigel Howard

Sadiq Khan is set to increase the number of City Hall employees to 1,000 under draft budget plans to recruit 92 more staff members next year, it was claimed today.

The Greater London Authority currently employs 953 people, almost 250 more than at the end of the Boris Johnson era.

The Standard recently revealed that since Mr Khan became Mayor in May 2016, costs have soared by £9 million to fund a growth in staff and a 25 per cent rise in employees on six-figure salaries.

City Hall now only has 0.65 desks available for each member of staff so services have been moved to the Cloud and employees are being issued with laptops to work from at home.

The new GLA draft budget also admits some teams, including HR, are under “considerable pressure”, in part due to a “significant growth in GLA staff numbers”.

Conservative Assembly Member Susan Hall said: “Londoners will rightly question why the Mayor wants to employ an additional 92 staff in 2019-2020 ... Every pound spent on new posts at the GLA is money which could be used to get more cops on the streets or invest in our transport network.”

Of the proposed jobs, 59 will be paid for externally or funded by the GLA’s trading arm, GLA Land and Property. Most of the roles are in housing after Mr Khan secured £5 billion in funding for 116,000 affordable homes and set up the Homes for Londoners team.

A spokesman for the Mayor said the total staffing number could change as people leave City Hall and fixed-term contracts end. He added: “The number of public servants at the GLA is increasing modestly to reflect the rise in powers and responsibilities since Sadiq became mayor.”

Mr Khan’s team stressed that “hot-desking” at City Hall started under Mr Johnson’s administration.

The London Assembly, which holds the Mayor to account, was expected to analyse the budget today.

Within the GLA’s £139 million budget for next year, £6.9 million is proposed to fund new activities including the response to the Grenfell Tower fire , action on rough sleeping and air quality programmes.

Separate budgets outlining spending on policing, transport and fire are expected to be revealed next month.

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