A chief executive is not just for Christmas but for life or in the case of Kent County Council er ... at least 18 months (on a four year contract).
Still reeling from recent news of the departure of Kent council boss Katherine Kerswell, from KCC, Bignews Margate is appealing for help.
We here at Bignews Margate believe that execs, even local authority bods, deserve better, how cruel and insensitive was it for top boss Katherine Kerswell to have found herself made redundant just before Christmas, despite having been more than competent, according to Kent Councils press wallahs and with little more than a few months memories of Kent and a few hundred grand to get by until the next job turns up.
I'm not entirely sure what can be done to save other public sector execs in similar circumstances, but it seems up and down the UK, hard working essential top bods are being disappeared and forced from their jobs with alarming frequency, and the methods used are brutal as they are crude, rarely spoken about in public, the technique, is referred to as the "golden goodbye", basically the victim is approached, by trusted colleagues or political masters, its made clear they've got to go, ever increasing bags of taxpayers money placed in front of the victim until they crack, and before you can say "lovely jubbly" lawyers have whipped out a confidentiality agreement and the victim adds a fresh paragraph to an ever increasing list of achievements.
Examples of big payouts to the upper echelons of local authorities are numerous in Southampton a couple of officers trousered £432,000 or Chief Exec of City Building Glasgow a quango stashing £615,000.
Meanwhile coming back to the extraordinary events in Kent, in which apparently a highly competent chief officer, was got rid of, for reasons which I guess have been hidden, at taxpayer expense by the Conservative administration employing lawyers to draw up confidentiality or gagging agreements, it seems that Cllr Paul Carter,who has already offended staff with the big money sunk into the Kerswell matter, has stirred up further controversy asking staff, some of whom will be losing jobs, for sponsorship, as he heads off to take part in month long motor rally see the Gazette page 2.
Anyway if you happen to be Paul Carter or one of Kent's Tory county councillors, maybe you could tell us how Kent council is going to operate with neither a leader or chief officer in charge of the two billion pound turnover organisation. Also could someone explain why so much taxpayer money is wasted not just by Kent's Tories but across the country in other local authorities and quango's on senior managers when lower orders are walked over?
November 2010 the then KCC director of finance went on gardening leave for reasons not stated by KCC. They were still being paid in the last set of accounts but not a word has been heard since from KCC and the person has resurfaced in a highly paid government job.
ReplyDeleteSo presumably they went with a glowing reference. We wait for the next accounts to see how much this costs KCC.
Another KCC director departure
Very nicely put, Tony, you've nailed the situation entirely.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was contracting on steelworks as an electrician in about 1990 I was earning £736 a week for seven 12 hour nightshifts and it was hot, hard dangerous work.
ReplyDeletePaid by results. For hard useful productive work.
These sums being paid to public sector parasites are obscene.
I am just looking at a statement from a Thanet woman in which she describes how she was never financially depedent on her partner by whom she had 3 children. She claimed benefits as a single mother from one of her father's buy to lets. With a pay rise from the benefits system from each additional child.
Meanwhile her partner owned a buy to let too with three single men in it. It is possible that each single man there had a partner and children in a house owned by them for which the partner claimed single mother benefits and rent. That gets benefits to pay the mortgage and deliver a profit eh ?
Over the period the first woman claiming from her father's addresses made say £200,000. (was she really living there ?) If the three "Tenants" in her partner's buy to let were doing the same then the fraud makes £800,000.
If the taxpayer is picking up the tab for feeding yer kids etc then guess what you can afford buy to lets and list other benefits claimants to claim housing benefits freeing up their partners to claim as single mums. Hence drawing rents on the house in which he really lives with his partner and kids ??
The Facebook friends lists of some of the players make interesting reading. From a TDC standpoint ?
Will we see a rigorous retrospective inquiry ? When you think that these people took over a decade to score what a Chief Exec can get in one hit for a gaggy agreement ? Perhaps Fraudbusters TDC see the fraud as small potatoes by public sector instant scam standards ?
The public sector needs serious adjustment. Useless and greedy.
I believe that I read on a blog post somewhere that the previous TDC Chief Exec left with one of these confidentiality agreements in place. I don't remember seeing anything official about this though. Does anyone know if this is true or was it just incorrect speculation?
ReplyDeleteThought everyone already knew that its the head of the legal teams who really has all the power and calls all the shots , which would of course be Mr Geoff Wild.
ReplyDeletePerhaps in the case though the American saying of money talks, the defendant walks could be changed to money talks, another senior officer walks.
ReplyDeleteMany people have and are being targeted and persecuted by these
ReplyDeleteauthorities/figures for trying to get the truth out about whats really goes on behind those closed doors. All have been given far to much money & power, it is quite obvious to a lot of people that they all work together in doing so.No public servant should be allowed to dictate or be given large pay offs to remain silent.
Every part of the system is controlled and governed by the initiates, they keep it running effectively, efficiently and of course profitably for them.
ReplyDeleteAlways remember that those who profess to have power only have what power they have been given. They are more controlled than anyone else and they are the least trusted, because it is most evident, they will go against their own kind for nothing more than material gain and a power overcoat.
ReplyDeleteCorrupt elites are being named and shamed – by the people
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8982969/Corrupt-elites-are-being-named-and-shamed-by-the-people.html
cant wait for all those controlling Kent's wrong doers to be exposed
Willful misconduct is a legal term that either means:
ReplyDelete(1.) Deliberately doing something when you know it is wrong.
(2.) Deliberately failing to do something when you know you should do it. (3.) And not caring whether doing it, or not doing it, is wrong
trouble is when you have a system built on a point scoring system to appease your bosses, nefarious activities creep in and no system of integrity can be relied upon
ReplyDelete