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Cross-party group to take control of severance pay for top Bristol City Council bosses
A cross-party group of councillors is set to be handed control of severance payments to top City Hall officers to prevent a repeat of the Anna Klonowski “scandal”.
Members of Bristol City Council’s human resources committee agreed to widen their powers following the fallout from a controversial £98,000 payoff to the authority’s former chief executive.
Klonowski left her post after just seven months in September 2017 to look after her parents.
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She was given a final payment of £196,000, which mayor Marvin Rees insisted she was entitled to under the terms of her contract.
But a “damning” report in March this year raised concerns about the lack of transparency.
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Read more: Transparency concerns over £98,000 payout for former council chief executive
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External auditors BDO found that only half of the sum related to her pay and pension contribution and the remaining £98,000 was a discretionary payment for “loss of office”, so they concluded it was “inappropriate” for the authority to say the payment was contractual.
Days later, opposition councillors blasted the saga as a “vast rambling scandal” and described the payoff as “hush money” and a “cover-up” during full council.
Members agreed to the auditors’ recommendations to change how severance pay is awarded, bringing in limits and ensuring the relevant committees are informed over how and why payments are made.
But many said it did not go far enough to ensure openness, and an amendment by Tory councillor Richard Eddy for a written update to be debated publicly at the next full council, with the input of the audit and HR committees, was passed by the casting vote of lord mayor Cleo Lake.
Concerns were raised over the lack of transparency surrounding the payout of the former chief executive
Now the HR committee is recommending to full council next week to expand its role to give it oversight of employment contracts for chief officers and deputy chief officers and the power to set their terms and conditions, including severance payments.
During a feisty debate on Thursday, May 9, several members were angry that neither the council’s head of paid service nor BDO had been invited to the meeting.
Gary Hopkins, Lib Dem councillor for Knowle, said: “The outside auditors did not get chance to fully finish their report to the audit committee because some members of the audit committee went off to a party meeting partway through.
“Given that happened, isn’t it absolutely vital we at least have the full report from the auditors and have the chance to question them?
“The key people who we need to question have not been invited.”
Anthony Negus, a Lib Dem councillor for Cotham, said: “The person charged with pulling all this together and making a written report is the head of paid service.
“How can that person write a report when they are not at the second half of the two meetings essential to produce a document that is invaluable to the whole thing?
“If that question cannot be answered, frankly I think we should stop.”
He said had councillors been given access to Klonowski’s contract, the terms of any remuneration would have been clear.
“Someone had screwed up and no one was prepared to allow that information to get out so that anybody else could see there had been a screw-up,” Negus added.
Paula O’Rourke, a Green councillor for Clifton, said: “The HR committee needs to have sight of the contracts.
“We have never seen a contract and this has been part of the problem in the past.”
Members agreed to recommend that full council, which meets on Tuesday, May 21, delegates the power of overseeing contracts, terms and conditions and severance pay for chief and deputy chief officers to the committee.
Chairman Jon Wellington, a Labour councillor for Windmill Hill, said: “That gives us the means so that members can get access to the information to ensure something like this does not happen again.”
At the full council meeting in March, Rees insisted there was no “conspiracy” over Klonowski’s payoff, the council had no procedures in place over the departure of senior officers and that it had simply followed legal advice.
Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Read more: Call for answers over council chief executive payout
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