News / bristol city council
‘Golden goodbye’ for former Bristol City Council chief executive unjustifiable’
A cross-party group of councillors have raised concerns about a pay-off, thought to be around £70,000, for the former city council chief executive who only lasted seven months.
Bristol’s Conservative group say they received confirmation at a HR committee meeting on Thursday that Anna Klonowski – who left the council’s employment after seven months – received a lump sum cash payment, equivalent to six months’ salary.
They are not the only ones to question the justification for the substantial payment and Green councillor Paula O’Rourke has written to mayor Marvin Rees challenging his actions and pressing for more information on the basis of the decision.
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Richard Eddy says the ‘golden goodbye’ cannot be justified
Following Thursday’s meeting, Richard Eddy, Conservative councillor for Bishopsworth, claimed it was clear that the payment to the chief executive was agreed by Rees and certain senior officers.
“Having scrutinised the former employment contract of Ms Klonowski, it seems there was a requirement for her to give two months’ notice within the first year of commencing her role and six months’ thereafter. The words of the contract stated that the council ‘may’ – not ‘shall’ – pay her salary in lieu of notice.
“Since the former chief executive left in September, giving at best one month’s notice of departure, I suppose it could be argued that a compassionate employer could pay her an additional month’s salary in lieu of the notice.
“However, £70,000 is an astonishing ‘golden-goodbye’ and, in my view, cannot be afforded or justified when Bristolians are seeing their council services cut to the bone.”
O’Rourke, a councillor for Clifton and member of the HR committee said: “While I appreciate the importance of showing flexibility for people who have caring responsibilities, I believe that the unnecessary payment of this large sum was the wrong decision for the mayor to take.
“Bristol residents will rightly be wondering why Marvin thought it was necessary to spend money like this. Surely the point of a notice period is that you don’t get paid for it if you don’t work it.”
In a letter to the mayor, she said: “You had the discretion, as mayor, to pay the notice period of the salary or to terminate the contract without payment.
“I would like to know the justification for making a payment of such a significant sum, rumoured to be in excess of £70,000 in the present climate of austerity and with the immense financial pressure that the council is under.”
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “We cannot provide details of personal employment matters as this could breach data protection law. We can only confirm that the chief executive’s contractual entitlement has been met.”
Read more: Bristol City Council scraps £160k chief executive role
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