557TfLworkers take home more than £100k a year

THE number of

Transport for London staff earning more than £100,000 a year has risen to 557, it can be revealed today.

This is an increase of 42 on the previous year and reverses a previous reduction in executives pocketing six-figure pay packets. Last year the number fell from 617 to 515. The latest figures, which relate to the 2019/20 financial year, show that Crossrail’s chief executive Mark

Wild and deputy chief executive Chris Sexton received bonuses of £31,692 and £100,000 respectively.

These were earned in the 2018/19 financial year — when Crossrail’s proposed opening date of December 2018 had to be abandoned — but paid a year in arrears, as is normal practice across TfL. Thirty-six Crossrail employees earned £100,000 or more — down from 47 in 2018/19. The biggest earner was TfL’s chief executive Mike Brown, who is leaving the organisation today. He took home a package worth £519,661, including a bonus of £145,225. Mr Wild received a total of £479,531 and Mr Sexton £404,490. The biggest bonus, of £179,638, was received by TfL property development director Lester Hampson, taking his earnings to £358,645.

TfL’s total wage bill increased by £2.6 million to £2.18billion. Total “headcount”, including agency staff, increased by 323 full-time-equivalent posts to 27,603. The median average wage was £51,578.

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat member of the London Assembly, said: “These generous payments for TfL’s senior staff continue to be out of step with the harsh economic reality facing its passengers.

Last month TfL’s remuneration committee decided to defer bonuses that would have been paid in the current financial year for a further year, and not to award any bonuses for work done in 2020/21, due to the scale of the financial crisis caused by the fall in passengers due to coronavirus.

TfL said its policy was to pay salaries that “attract, retain and motivate individuals of the right calibre to manage a large, complex organisation”.

A spokeswoman said the figures relate almost entirely to the period before the coronavirus pandemic. TfL has since reduced costs by £200million and increased reserves to more than £2 billion.