Fran Collingham, the council's communications chief, is understood to have taken early retirement
One of Coventry City Council’s highest-paid officers has stepped down from her role.
Fran Collingham was Coventry City Council’s communications chief - overseeing the council’s press office among other responsibilities.
In 2013 Ms Collingham, whose council role was at assistant director level, was reported to earn a figure not far short of £100,000 by the Telegraph, though her current salary is believed to be around £85,000 as a result of local government funding cuts.
In 2013 Ms Collingham was included in a list of 23 of the city council’s highest earners.
Information released by the council at the time, which said it strived to be transparent about senior officers’ pay, included Ms Collingham in a list of assistant directors who earned £90,462, though with pension contributions this rose to £97,292.
A spokesman for Coventry City Council revealed Ms Collingham, an assistant director in the chief executive’s department, had left the council last week.
It is understood she opted to take early retirement.
They added that there would be a recruitment process to replace her but that the role was “currently being evaluated” and that any new communications chief would not be at assistant director level.
The spokesman said that in the meantime the council’s communications team was reporting directly to chief executive Martin Reeves.
An online farewell tribute from colleagues in the council's communications department says: "Fran’s been an institution here at Coventry for the last 13 years and has skilfully guided us through many a comms challenge and taught us all a thing or a hundred about good comms.
"Most importantly, she’s taught us to use our unique position at the heart of the organisation to do good things, make a difference and speak up when things aren’t right, for whoever they’ll impact."
It appears the council's press office has yet to discover colour photography?
