12 Jul

Can The Queen Apply Her Frugal Ways to the Civil List?

Each year The Queen receives a sum of £7.9 million to be allocated as funds for the Civil List which pays her staff’s salaries, administrative needs and various other expenses. That amount has been the same since 1990; it was reviewed in 2000 but was not increased at that time due to a surplus of £35 million still available from the previous decade. The Queen has consistently needed to spend more each year, delving in to that surplus so that it is now almost gone. Although this year was supposed to be the year that a new annual sum could be negotiated, The Queen has agreed to accept a one-year freeze on the issue due to the impossible financial straights that the UK is in at this time.

The Queen is notorious for being personally frugal. There are tales here and there about her turning off lights to save money, taking normal passenger trains instead of more expensive public transportation and preferring used clothes to new ones. Will she be able to apply these frugal ways to reducing the cost of spending on The Civil List? With the freeze in place and not much money left in the surplus, she may not have a choice.

The one thing that The Queen has always been very vocal about is that she wants her staff to get a fair salary for the work that they are asked to perform. The average salary of each staff member is close to £50000. Current annual spending on her staff’s salaries alone exceeds the £7.9 million sum she will have to work with. A compromise will have to be struck that allows for salaries to be paid. The other expenditures on the Civil List are nominal and include such things as catering, housekeeping and ceremonial expenses. Some of those could be cut back a little bit but the real change may have to come in the area of salaries and administrative costs.

The one-year freeze could be a good thing for the long-term costs of the Civil List. Being forced to apply her frugal ways to The Civil List could aid The Queen in figuring out creative ways to keep costs low. This information can be used when it does come time to renegotiate a new annual amount so that the amount doesn’t end up being excessive even though it will likely be increased once the freeze has come to an end.

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