One-off costs associated with voluntary redundancies and a growth in overtime worked by “specialist engineers” have been blamed for a rise in the number of Transport for London staff who earned over £100,000 last year.
In the 2013/14 financial year 326 employees across TfL received total pay of more than £100,000, a number which rose by almost 100 last year to 413.
The capital’s transport agency says the increase is accounted for by overtime worked by 91 “specialist engineers and highly skilled project staff” responsible for Tube upgrades who normally earn a base salary of less than £100,000.
A spokesperson said the overtime “is vital to ensure we keep pace with London’s huge population growth, expected to rise from 8.6 million today to nearly 10 million by 2030, to ensure we can continue to support London’s growth and economic development.”
“To deliver against this enormous agenda, we need highly skilled, specialist and experienced staff and compete with the private sector for the best professional staff across a range of disciplines, including world-leading engineers and project managers.”
A further 19 ‘high earners’ are said to be former staff who took voluntary severance under the London Underground’s Fit for the Future programme which will see the closure of all ticket offices on the network.
The figures are contained in a draft version of TfL’s annual report and accounts which have been published today and will be discussed by its audit committee next week before being signed off by the board.
