Sorry for the delay, but I’ve only just spotted this thread. I can speak with a degree of knowledge on what polling station staffs earn and what the job entails, having been a Presiding Officer at various elections over the past 5 or 6 years. I took redundancy/early retirement from the chemical industry and, other than paying my council tax, have no connection with the local authority. I applied to work at elections via a piece in a community newsletter, though it appeared that most people working at the elections were either employees or retired employees of the authority.
The Presiding Officer is ‘in charge’ and, depending on the size of the polling station, has one or more Poll Clerks to assist. I have always worked in rural East Anglia, which could probably be described as a cushy number, but I can imagine that a busy, multi-ethnic, urban polling station could be a nightmare.
I have a great deal of sympathy for staff working at polling stations that weren’t able to cope. On the one hand, THE LAW SAYS that the polls should close at 10pm whilst, on the other hand, all those who had a right to vote ought to be allowed to vote. Those people were in a no-win situation and under a great deal of pressure.
As a Presiding Officer, I attended a briefing meeting at the council offices (30 mile round trip) a day before the election and picked up the booth/ballot box/paperwork etc. This accounted for 3 hours and I was paid £40.
On Election Day, I left at 5.45am, picked up the Poll Clerk and arrived to set out the polling station at 6.20. The poll took from 7 ‘til 10, then we filled in the paperwork and delivered ballot box and paperwork to a local leisure centre where the count was taking place. We were only allowed to leave when it had been verified that our paperwork was in order. Arriving home at midnight, my pay for the day was £195. I also received £20 travelling expenses having covered 90 miles.
The postie delivered my pay + expenses cheque this morning - £208 after basic rate tax. I can’t see me getting rich on a once-every-2 years or so election (I include Euro, county etc elections). However, I was perturbed to hear from a friend who was a council employee in the Midlands that council staffs are paid this fee ON TOP OF their normal wage – I had assumed that they’d take a day’s holiday and earn this as a ‘working holiday’. I am even more disgusted to hear in an earlier post that the Returning Officer gets a whacking fee on top of his fat salary – surely this should be part of the job. But then, as a former industry worker, I’d better not get started on the subject of government waste!
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Can I be a returning officer please? new
Can I be a returning officer please? new