Gardening on a pittance at Buckingham Palace?

Quite a stir arose last week over Buckingham Palace's need for a new gardener. The Daily Telegraph concentrated on the eco emphasis of the job, with an article describing the handling of garden waste, taken pretty much verbatim from the Monarchy's official website.

As you might expect, The Daily Mail takes a slightly snide view, by concentrating on the salary. The job description can be found in their article. They're not alone in being exercised by this. Over at the Landscape Juice Network, members felt £15000 a year to be particularly tight-fisted.

Jane Bonney of Gainsborough, Lincs, wrote to the Telegraph this week, describing the training and responsibilities of a gardener. She obviously has detailed knowledge of the study involved and ends her letter, "Surely a full-time post in one of the most prestigious locations in central London should command a high salary to reflect the above skills and the demands of the job. However, the gardener’s job at Buckingham Palace, with additional responsibility for three other royal households nearby, is paying only £15,000 per annum."

£15000 certainly doesn't seem much for a skilled gardener, and virtually unliveable for anyone commuting daily from the suburbs as they're going to see quite a lot of that salary disappear in fares.  Unfortunately, it's always been the case that the more interesting the place of work, the less the pay (think National Trust), and the Royal Household does have a reputation for poor pay.

Nevertheless, before we get too up-in-arms, a quick look at the job description will tell you that this isn't a highly skilled job. It requires an NVQ Level 2, and consists mostly of "lawn maintenance and repair, shrub and tree planting, and general maintenance tasks including leaf clearing and grass clipping". Yes, there's some knowledge desired of herbaceous and rose practices, but it's not really the full-blown design and science-based job outlined by Jane Bonney.

In the eyes of the Royal Household, salary-wise it falls somewhere between Retail Assistant in the shop and General Assistant (Wash Up), helping to maintain cleanliness in the Staff Restaurant.

If I'd applied (the deadline was 13th February), I'd have gone for the chance of accommodation. This would mean a reduction in the salary, but, assuming it's a small place in the grounds or nearby, what a fantastic opportunity for a young person to gain experience in prestigious grounds while living in one of the loveliest parts of London, unaffordable to most.