Pressure is mounting on a rural district council to reconsider handing four male senior managers pay-offs averaging about £190,000 after an employment expert warned the legal basis for such payments “is at least unclear if not questionable”.
The second most senior council officer in North Yorkshire, Justine Brooksbank, has also warned Hambleton District Council its report recommending the payments ahead of the second tier authority being abolished on March 31 is “particularly negative and arguably misleading”.
Ms Brooksbank, the county council’s assistant chief executive and head of human resources, has issued a letter to the district authority’s leader, Councillor Mark Robson, as well as the 13 county councillors who represent divisions in Hambleton, stating the proposals appear to favour a small group of men.
The warnings came ahead of a full meeting of the Conservative-led authority tomorrow (Tuesday, November 22) considering whether to enter into a settlement agreement with members of its chief officer group who do not wish to transfer to North Yorkshire Council as part of the transition to a unitary authority.
An officer’s report to the meeting states the county council has requested for staff to be transferred to the unitary, but if any chief officer feels that the post for which they are being ring-fenced at the new authority was not suitable for them, “then they are at liberty to challenge that”.
It states the chief officers “are genuinely unsettled, anxious and genuinely hold the view that there is no suitable role for them based on their engagement with the county council and that they are at best looking at supernumerary positions pending redundancy”.
The report adds: “They each wish to settle these matters by mutual agreement on the basis of agreeing to leave the service of the council.”
However, Ms Brooksbank has responded saying the report about the proposal seems to be structured to show the approach and process of the senior management structure in a particularly negative and arguably misleading light.
She sais with the transfer arrangements in place for all staff working at the seven districts and borough councils, the legal basis for such payments was “at least unclear if not questionable”.
Ms Brooksbank added: “A specific concern should also be that this appears to be favourable treatment for a small number of male senior staff. Across the seven districts there are some 2,000 staff many of whom may well rather receive a settlement payment than transfer to the new council.”
She said while the report stated that “the officers are genuinely unsettled, anxious”, the anxiety applied to “many district colleagues despite ongoing efforts to reassure them”.
It is understood at least one cabinet member of the district authority’s ruling Tory group has also raised concerns about the proposal.
A Unison spokeswoman said the proposal, which had the appearance of a boy’s club at the heart of the council, could be challenged and the authority forced to pay the money back to the public purse.
She added: “These four directors didn’t turn up at the staff transfer consultation meetings, which people felt was appalling, as they felt like they had been abandoned.
“Why should they be any different to other members of staff? These directors’ would all transfer across on their current terms and conditions and their jobs are ring-fenced for senior officers’ posts so there should be no settlement agreement with them.”
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