No full votes on six-figure golden goodbyes for top county council staff

At a meeting of the governance committee on Monday (June 23), members of the opposition called for all pay-outs over £100,000 to be voted on by the full council, in line with advice in the Localism Act 2011.

The issue was raised following the outcry in January when it was alleged that former chief executive Nathan Elvery had received more than £250,000 when he parted ways with the council.

Others have also benefited from a golden handshake and there have been calls for the council to be more open about such financial issues.

As things stand, severance arrangements and payments are determined by officers.

At the meeting, Dr James Walsh (Lib Dem, Littlehampton East) led the call for that to change and for the full council to be involved in any such decisions.

He said: “Anything less would be a dereliction of our duty to the hard-pressed taxpayers of West Sussex.

“It is quite scandalous that matters like this are determined, frankly, by a group of senior officers who are judge and jury in awarding payments to their work colleagues when they are severed from service at the council.”

Michael Jones (Lab, Southgate & Gossops Green) accused the ruling Conservative party of ‘forgetting’ or ‘deciding to ignore’ the outcry over Mr Elvery’s departure.

He said: “The bottom line is that it’s unacceptable that this is just done behind closed doors by officers with little to no reference to elected members.”

Leader Paul Marshall disagreed.

While lauding the ‘significant transparency’ he said had been a key feature of his leadership, he said severance arrangements were ‘clearly of a confidential and contractual relationship’, adding: “It’s an employee relationship which needs to be determined by a senior officer.”