News / Politics

Changes to CEO rules after ?200k pay-off

By Louis Emanuel  Friday Sep 23, 2016

Large severance payments will be curtailed following the departure of former Bristol City Council director in a £200,000 deal.

Nicola Yates is understood to have received the pay-off as she was shown the door shortly after Marvin Rees became mayor of Bristol.

Appointed by former mayor George Ferguson, Yates is thought to have clashed with the new Labour mayor. She had left a similar role in Hull under another Labour administration in 2012, bagging £250,000 in compensation at the time.

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Measures have now been introduced in Bristol to prevent large severance packages for city directors who will now be employed on a fixed-term basis with a panel reviewing performance annually.

Following claims the new mayor had not been transparent over Yates’ deal, the new proposals also make sure any future decisions are approved by the full council.

Bristol24/7 and the BBC were denied access to details on the pay-off through several requests made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Yates earned a basic salary of £160,000 as the council’s CEO. The current temporary CEO earns £177,000.

Future CEOs’ salaries will start at £160,000 and will always be maintained at 10 times the UK Living Wage.

There will also be a 10 per cent limit to bonuses, which will be withheld if someone is sacked due to poor performance or misconduct.

Opinion: ‘Rees supports transparency – but only when it suits him’

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