Financial settlement for council executive under fire

The Yorkshire Post has learnt Hambleton District Council will make a one-off payment of £266,000 to cover the pensions’ rights of Peter Simpson when his contract ends on April 30. He will have been paid £62,500 by the council when he leaves despite having no dealings with its staff since stepping down as chief executive following the allegations over his management style.

Union leaders condemned the scale of the financial package, which will top £340,000 once legal costs, re-training and the £62,500 salary are taken into account.

Unison’s regional head of local government, Chris Jenkinson, said: “It is an awful lot of money for someone who was not able to maintain the confidence of his employers. If this had happened to someone else who is delivering frontline services, they would not have been offered similar arrangements.

“It is extremely demoralising for staff to learn that these sort of sums are involved. We would expect leadership from those at the top during these difficult financial times, but in this instance that has obviously not happened.”

The council has endured the most turbulent period in its history which has seen its senior management completely restructured after Mr Simpson stood down from his role as its most senior civil servant. He has, however, received the £62,500 salary despite not having any dealings with the council’s staff while seconded to work for the District Councils Network.

The council’s leader Neville Huxtable announced last month he is himself resigning for “personal reasons” after three years in the job.

Along with the unexpected one-off cost to the pension fund, the council has paid £6,750 in legal fees ahead of Mr Simpson’s departure as well as £5,000 for his re-training. It is understood he has undertaken courses linked to the building and construction sector.

The council is having to slash its £9.6m revenue budget by as much as £3m over the next four years, and its workforce has reduced from 402 full-time equivalent posts in 2009 to 348 in December.

Deputy leader Ron Kirk admitted the financial arrangements of Mr Simpson’s departure have been “far from ideal” as the council battles to curb its expenditure. While there have been 10 voluntary redundancies during this financial year, there have not been any compulsory job losses.

Coun Kirk added: “It has been a testing time, and you cannot introduce a new senior management team without a period of uncertainty. The changes have not helped morale but we are seeking to move forward.

“We do value every member of staff and we have worked hard to retain the vast majority of jobs. But you cannot deal with the cuts the authority is facing without making changes.”

Coun Kirk confirmed the council is due to make £500,000 in efficiencies this financial year on top of savings brought about by a four per cent cut in government funding, which equates to a further reduction of £600,000.

The £500,000 savings will be placed in the council’s reserves, which currently stand at £22.6m, and will be used to offset the cost of Mr Simpson’s departure.

Hambleton’s senior management team was introduced last May to oversee a huge transition as a shared services arrangement with neighbouring Richmondshire District Council has been unravelled.

The scheme achieved £2.6m savings in three years, but came to an end when Hambleton announced it was scrapping an arrangement where a chief executive oversaw both authorities.