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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National
Ross Lydall

City Hall pay rises take Sadiq Khan's top aides above £150,000 (but no decision on mayor's new salary)

Sir Sadiq Khan was accompanied to the Pride parade by deputy mayors Mete Coban, Howard Dawber and Seb Dance, all pictured to his right - (Sadiq Khan / X)

Sir Sadiq Khan’s deputy mayors have received a pay rise, taking all but one of their salaries above £150,000, it can be revealed.

The mayor’s top aides have also received an increase, with his chief of staff now earning just a fraction under £160,000.

But the London mayor himself has yet to decide whether to accept an increase for the current financial year.

According to the Greater London Authority website, Sir Sadiq currently earns £165,001 – only £2,000 less than the reported salary of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The updated salaries have yet to be made public but details were confirmed by a mayoral spokesman after inquiries from The Standard.

Last month The Standard revealed that 2,200 staff at Transport for London earned more than £100,000 last year – with 78 taking home more than the Prime Minister.

The mayor’s top team have received annual increases of 2.5%, below the 4.1% rate of inflation for the 12 months to April.

The increase is also less than the 3.2 per cent awarded to all but the best paid local authority staff across the country as part of the Government’s local government settlement.

It is thought the new salaries took effect at the start of April.

Sir Sadiq increased his share of council tax bills by four per cent in April, meaning the average London household pays City Hall £490.38 a year – the majority of which is used to help fund the Metropolitan police.

According to information provided to The Standard, eight of the nine deputy mayors saw their salaries increase from £147,770 to £151,465 – an increase of £3,695.

David Bellamy, the mayor’s long-serving chief of staff, received an increase of £3,899, taking his salary from £155,928 to £159,827.

Richard Watts, the deputy chief of staff, saw his salary rise from £151,849 to £155,646.

The salaries of mayoral directors Felicity Appleby, Sarah Brown and Ali Picton increased from £147,770 to £151,465, matching those of the deputy mayors.

All three women – all key figures in the mayor’s leadership team - have also been given the title of assistant chief of staff, though this is thought to pre-date the pay increases.

Last December, Sir Sadiq appointed a fourth mayoral director – Nadeem Javaid, a long-serving aide.

Mr Javaid, whose job involves planning the mayor’s foreign visits, was given the title of mayoral director for global relations and communities. His salary has also risen to £151,465.

Unlike their better-paid colleagues at TfL, none of Sir Sadiq’s top team receive bonuses.

Aide

Job

Salary

David Bellamy

Chief of staff

£159,827

Richard Watts

Deputy chief of staff

£155,646

Felicity Appleby

Mayoral director, government

£151,465

Sarah Brown

Mayoral director, communications

£151,465

Nadeem Javaid

Mayoral director, global relations

£151,465

Ali Picton

Mayoral director, operations

£151,465

Mete Coban

Deputy mayor, environment

£151,465

Kaya Comer-Schwartz

Deputy mayor, policing

£151,465

Tom Copley

Deputy mayor, housing

£151,465

Seb Dance

Deputy mayor, transport

£151,465

Howard Dawber

Deputy mayor, business

£151,465

Joanne McCartney

Deputy mayor, children

£114,461

Jules Pipe

Deputy mayor, planning and fire

£151,465

Justine Simons

Deputy mayor, culture

£151,465

Debbie Weekes-Bernard

Deputy mayor, communities

£151,465

A mayoral spokesman said Sir Sadiq’s salary was determined independently and was based on the local government settlement.

“There is no decision yet on what he is accepting for 2025/26,” the spokesman said.

The GLA’s human resources department recommended in 2024, following a review of salaries, that the salaries of mayoral directors should be aligned with those for deputy mayors.

In many cases, the workload and responsibilities of the mayoral directors exceeds those of the deputy mayors.

Their salaries also takes into account the increase in the mayor’s responsibilities since he was first elected in 2016.

#YesHeKhan: Mete Coban was appointed as a deputy mayor last year (GLA)

Sir Sadiq’s statutory deputy is Joanne McCartney, meaning that she takes over if he is incapacitated.

Ms McCartney is also deputy mayor for children and families but earns less than the eight other deputy mayors as she is also a London Assembly member. Her salary is £114,461.

Sir Sadiq’s eight other deputies are: Jules Pipe (planning, regeneration and the fire service), Justine Simons (culture), Debbie Weekes-Bernard (communities), Tom Copley (housing), Seb Dance (transport), Howard Dawber (business), Mete Coban (environment) and Kaya Comer-Schwartz (policing).

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley with the deputy mayor for policing and crime, Kaya Comer-Schwartz, during a walkabout in Woodford in January (PA Wire)

A spokesperson for the mayor said: “Value for money is at the heart of Sadiq’s agenda to build a safer, fairer, greener and more prosperous London for everyone.

“The make-up of the mayor’s office reflects the large rise in powers and responsibilities since Sadiq became mayor, including housing, skills and health.

“The mayor will continue to deliver for Londoners. He has started a record number of affordable homes, is cleaning up the capital’s dirty air and providing free school meals to all state primary schools in London.

"There is still much more to do to tackle crime, but thanks to the mayor’s record investment in the police and preventative services, the number of homicides, young people injured with knives, gun crime with lethal barrel discharges and burglary are all down since 2016 - with last year seeing the lowest number of teenage homicides in London since 2012."

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