Posts

LBWF Cabinet member Cllr. Victoria Ashworth takes a new job in Greece…but reportedly wants to remain a councillor in Waltham Forest too (yes, you read that right)

June 4, 2025 Cllr. Victoria te Velde, register of interests 0

In April 2025, Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities, Cllr. Victoria Ashworth (previously Vicky te Velde) announced on Linkedin that she had become Port Chaplin for the Mission to Seafarers, based in Piraeus, Greece. Shortly afterwards, it is said, she told her Labour Party colleagues that, despite her new job overseas, she intended to remain a councillor in Waltham Forest until her four-year term of office expires in May next year, and as of today, according to the LBWF website, that is what appears to be happening. It goes without saying that this is a surprising and very unusual path to be following (there are precedents elsewhere, but only a few) and unsurprisingly some have wondered w... »

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New research reveals that LBWF has long been involved in Whitefield School’s finances, and this again raises questions about who knew what, when, about the child abuse scandal.

May 21, 2025 child safeguarding, Whitefield 0

In recent discussions about the child abuse that occurred at Whitefield School between 2014 and 2017, the Labour leadership in the Town Hall has intimated, particularly in conversations with councillors, that LBWF has little or no culpability. Whitefield, it is underlined, has always been run by a trust, first the Whitefield Academy Trust and then, from 2023, its successor, the Flourish Learning Trust, and so LBWF has only possessed limited power to supervise or intervene. This seems plausible, but ignores one salient fact. For while it is true that throughout LBWF has needed to respect Whitefield’s independent status, its equally true that, as new research shows, over the years LBWF has pla... »

LBWF’s recent voluntary redundancy programme: grass roots staff culled, even as ‘senior managers’ mushroom in number

May 9, 2025 Redundancies 0

In November 2023, LBWF introduced a voluntary redundancy programme, which, it claimed, was necessary to help bridge an overall funding gap forecast to reach £26.7m. in the next few years.  Subsequently, little if anything more has been said about this in public, but a recent Freedom of Information response reveals some of the details. Altogether, 92 staff have accepted the terms offered to them, and left the council’s employment.  The net savings achieved (that is saving taking into account costs such as the redundancy packages, admin, etc.) are ‘anticipated’ to be £4.2m down to 2025-26. Three observations are relevant. First, though LBWF has imposed redundancies before, the latest... »

Waltham Forest Town Hall fat cats block information about… Waltham Forest Town Hall fat cats

April 22, 2025 Senior Staff Pay 0

Every March LBWF has a legal obligation under the Local Government Transparency Code (LGTC) 2015 and various other statutes to publish a Pay Policy Statement. Amongst other things, this must include: (a) a list of senior staff whose salary is £50,000 and upwards, with details of exactly what they earn; their job title; their responsibilities; and their bonuses and ‘benefits-in-kind’; and  (b) for senior staff whose salaries are £150,000 or more, their names. In past years, LBWF has by and large complied, appending the required information in a comprehensive appendix to the main document. But in this year’s appendix, all that LBWF has published is the pay details of the very top ear... »

More on the Whitefield School child abuse scandal: two inquiries raise plenty of questions, but provide far fewer answers

April 15, 2025 child safeguarding, Whitefield 0

The Whitefield School scandal is without doubt the most shocking of any in Waltham Forest’s post-war history, involving as it does historic allegations that staff had subjected tens of children with learning difficulties and severe mental disorders to violent abuse (see links below). Thanks to three detailed reports by Noel Titheradge for the BBC, the first on 14 October 2021, the second two on 30 April and then 26 November 2024, much has become known about the sequence and character of the story. But, regrettably, there also are still gaps, instances where the truth is unclear, and this post looks at two examples.  The first concerns the inquiry by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)... »

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