Taxpayers to pay city council chief's £250k golden goodbye

THE departure of a senior director at Nottingham City Council will cost taxpayers more than £250,000, the Evening Post can reveal.

Sallyanne Johnson is expected to leave her post as head of adult services in a management restructure.

Ms Johnson, who is on a salary of over £140,000, is only 54 and was not due to retire for another six years.

Negotiations are ongoing but it is anticipated the city council will have to pay at least £250,000 to cover the cost of Ms Johnson taking her pension early.

In addition, she would be entitled to a relatively modest settlement under new council rules which limit pay-outs to about £28,000.

The management reshuffle is the latest in a series at Nottingham City Council, which has now paid out more than £2m to departing senior executives in less than three years:

In April 2007, former chief executive Michael Frater restructured the council's top tiers, removing one corporate director, costing an estimated £1m.

A year later Mr Frater left after 19 months in the job after a fallout with council leader Jon Collins. He received £230,000 and was the third chief executive to go in six years.

In July 2008, deputy chief executive Adrienne Roberts left in a management restructure, with a package worth £500,000, most of it in pension costs.

In October 2008, director of finance Tim Render left in another restructure with a package worth more than £200,000. He was re-employed by the council as a consultant a month later.

The city council refused to disclose details of Ms Johnson's pension payment, or the cost of covering her departure.

A spokesman said plans to restructure the council's management, which includes the departure of Ms Johnson and the abolition of seven other director posts, would ultimately save the authority, £671,000 a year.

"The saving is made annually as opposed to a one-off redundancy payment and therefore does represent value for money in the long-term," he said.

The leader of the Conservative Group, Coun Andrew Price, a member of the council's appointments committee, believes the restructure makes sense.

But he said the action had been delayed because the council had parted company with previous chief executive Mr Frater, who began the shake-up.

Coun Price said: "If Coun Collins wants to take credit for a leaner, more efficient management team, then why did he not do it three years ago? Why has he waited for a financial crisis?"

The city council seeking to save £18.8m in 2010/11. It is expected to cut 300 jobs.

Ravi Subramanian, regional head of local government at Unison, said: "While it is only right that anyone receives their pension entitlements, Unison is alarmed to see yet another senior manager being paid off while hundreds of council staff are under threat of redundancy."

charles.walker@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk