Coventry council paid almost £650k to officer who left in 2021

[dutchman]

It is the second costly departure in three years



Coventry council paid a senior officer almost £650k in 2021/22. It is £40k more than the best paid UK council employee received that year according to an annual "rich list."

The list, a comparison of senior council officer salaries, is compiled by the TaxPayer's Alliance. But its 2023 updates lacked data from Coventry and dozens of other councils which had not yet published their draft accounts.

The report for 2021/22 was finally published by the council this August. It shows Deputy Chief Executive Gail Quinton received a total remuneration of £648k that year.

This included £454k for "loss of office" the document said, adding that Ms Quinton left in December 2021. A council spokesperson said the £165k-per-year role was axed in January 2022 to cut down on senior management jobs.

The new structure created a "significant" saving, they said, adding that no redundancy payment was made and the person took early retirement. They said the cost involved was not a lump sum, but early pension access - a process they said is set out under a national pension scheme.

"Details of the package were subject to scrutiny and gained formal approval through the Council’s Audit Committee," they told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS.) But it comes just two and a half years after another costly departure at the cash-strapped authority.

Deputy Chief Executive for Place, Martin Yardley, left in 2019 with a £395,000 early-retirement package. His total pay for the year was £573k and topped that year's TaxPayer's Alliance Town Hall Rich List.

The payout attracted criticism from the leader of the opposition at the council, Cllr Gary Ridley (Woodlands, Con.) Speaking at the time, he said it seemed "extremely high" and called it "difficult to justify."

"If you have less money to play around with you have to be more efficient with the money you have got," Cllr Ridley added. But a council spokesperson said Mr Yardley had played a "pivotal role" in the city's regeneration and pointed to the saving from the now redundant post.

They added that Mr Yardley received the standard pension terms offered "to all employees" taking early retirement and did not have a redundancy payment. Details of the council's draft accounts for 2021/22 and 2022/23 can be found on its website: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/budgets-spe ... t-accounts.