Unison and the Taxpayers Alliance have slammed a district council’s proposal to give a £225,000 redundancy pay-off to its chief executive.
Dr Justin Ives, chief executive of Hambleton District Council, is set to lose his job when North Yorkshire’s district councils are disbanded in favour of one unitary authority for the county in April next year.
And it has emerged that the Hambleton council is considering paying Dr Ives a £225,000 redundancy package when his post ceases to exist on March 31.
This has outraged Unison who says it is ‘dismayed and angry’ about the pay-off.
The union says the pay-off sends a message to members that staff who are already very well paid are able to negotiate themselves better deals than lower paid workers.
Unison added in a statement: “This huge exit payment will not go down well with hard working council staff and local residents who are struggling with the cost of living crisis.
“We have already had contact from our members who work for Hambleton District Council to express their shock and disgust at this proposal.”
Unison says Dr Ives ‘should be given fair notice of redundancy and receive his fair entitlement to redundancy pay’ but Hambleton residents ‘should not be subsidising an enhanced exit package for the chief executive’.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said that 'taxpayers are fed up of footing the bill for golden goodbyes'.
He added: “Despite overstretched budgets and repeated tax rises, loaded council bosses are still taking bumper pay-offs.
“Hambleton Council must get a grip on these severance packages.”
A report written by Hambleton Council’s leader, Mark Robson, to a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, states that to avoid any potential conflict of interest over the redundancy settlement, the council appointed independent, external advisers to provide advice.
It states the advisors felt ‘it would be sensible and prudent to hold negotiations with the chief executive to establish terms on which he might be prepared to leave the employment of the council’.
The report adds an extra payment should be given to Dr Ives, who recently marked his tenth anniversary at the authority, to ensure he will continue leading the council throughout the transition.
Under the proposals he will receive a redundancy payment of three weeks for each year of service and for agreeing to stay on in the role until March 31 an additional sum, known as a “termination payment”, alongside another payment for any outstanding holiday accrued and not taken.
The advisor said Dr Ives’ performance-related pay would act as a retention incentive and the maximum statutory compensation for an unfair dismissal was capped at £93,878.
He also warns of ‘the potential negative reputational impact on the council of apparently large sums being paid to individuals upon leaving the council’.
The legal advisors state the council must have close regard to its duty to its taxpayers, be able to demonstrate it has secured demonstrable value for the council and that the payments ‘are not gratuitous in nature’.
Cllr Robson’s report, which will also be considered by a full meeting of the council on October 11, states: “It is for members to consider and debate these matters in the context of their intimate knowledge of the strategic and operating environment of the council before coming to a conclusion.
“The council should assume that approval of any settlement proposal and its implementation would attract scrutiny in part because this is a substantial sum however; such matters are normally confidential in accordance with the terms of a settlement agreement.”
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