EXCLUSIVESadiq Khan is blasted for spending millions to hire pen-pushers while crime in London soars
Sadiq Khan has been blasted for taking millions more pounds from his policing budget to hire more pen-pushers while failing to cut violent crime.
New figures show the number of back-office staff working on finance, research and local projects has almost doubled on the Labour mayor's watch.
Just before he came to power in 2016, there were 113 members of staff in the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), costing taxpayers £7.8m a year.
But new figures seen by the Mail reveal that by the end of March 2023, the payroll had gone up to 205 employees - at a cost of £17.5m.
Yet crime has soared in the capital over the same period.
Sadiq Khan has been blasted for taking millions more pounds from his policing budget to hire more pen-pushers while failing to cut violent crime
Susan Hall, Conservative challenger for City Hall at next month's election said crime has soared in London
Office for National Statistics figures show the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) recorded 738,501 total offences including 185,675 of violence against the person in the year to March 2016.
By March last year total offences had soared by 19 per cent to reach 880,284 while violence against the person was 30 per cent higher at 240,924.
Last night Susan Hall, Mr Khan's Conservative challenger for City Hall at next month's election, told the Mail: 'Crime has soared out of control under Sadiq Khan, and yet he is wasting millions of pounds that should be going into putting more bobbies on the beat.
'I am listening to Londoners and as Mayor, I will make our city safer. I will recruit 1,500 police officers, create two new bases in every borough, and bring back borough-based policing.'
The best-paid employee inside MOPAC - which oversees Scotland Yard as well as commissioning local projects to cut crime and support victims - is chief executive Diana Luchford, whose salary was £159,697 in 2022-23.
Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Sophie Linden was paid £135,797 while Chief Financial Officer Amana Humayun got £133,100.
New figures show the number of back-office staff working on finance, research and local projects has almost doubled on the Labour mayor's watch (stock image)
Julie Norgrove, Director of Audit, Risk and Assurance, was paid £123,412 while Kenny Bowie, Director of Strategy and MPS Oversight, was paid £122,900, as was Director of Commissioning and Partnerships William Balakrishnan.
A staff structure diagram published by MOPAC shows that below its Senior Management Team it has 20 people working in HR, private offices and in secretariat roles; more than 30 in strategy, policy and oversight of Scotland Yard, 25 in audit, risk and assurance; plus dozens more commissioning programmes run by charities and in research and analysis roles.
MOPAC's £17.5m staffing bill makes up a significant proportion of its £59m running costs, which comes out of the £4.2bn budget that also covers the Met itself.
Yet while Mayor Khan has overseen an almost doubling of the MOPAC payroll, he has also faced criticism for failing to use extra Government cash to get more officers on the frontline fighting crime.
He failed to meet recruitment targets and so had to give £60m back to the Home Office while leaving the Met 1,000 officers short.
A spokesman for Mr Khan said: 'This Mayoral election is a close two-horse race between Sadiq investing in more police officers and youth clubs in London, or the hard-right Tory candidate who has backed £1bn cuts to the Met police in real terms since 2010, and supported £1bn of cuts to youth services across the county.
'A majority of the extra staff are involved in the new Violence Reduction Unit set up in 2019, which has done vital work supporting 150,000 young people over the last two years – providing youth workers, after-school support, mentoring, sporting activity, and support for parents.
'It also funds youth workers embedded in major Trauma Centres and A&Es across the capital, supporting young people at their most vulnerable.
'Since 2018, MOPAC has also taken on vital new responsibilities delivering accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse, and improving the investigation and prosecution of rape.
'The Mayor has invested record amounts in tackling violence against women and girls.'
