Solace slams slurs on chief executives

8 Oct 09
The body representing council chief executives has warned that continued attacks on public servants are legitimising unfair dismissals and causing top-level vacancies to remain unfilled
By David Williams

9 October 2009

The body representing council chief executives has warned that continued attacks on public servants are legitimising unfair dismissals and causing top-level vacancies to remain unfilled.

The claim was made to an Audit Commission inquiry on local authority severance deals ordered by Communities Secretary John Denham.

David Clark, director general of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers, told the regulator: ‘The nature of recent public attacks on chief executives is no doubt one reason why some posts are becoming difficult to fill.

‘We have only anecdotal evidence of this currently, but I fear a trend may soon become measurable.’

He added: ‘Government ministers and political parties should be careful not to talk down public servants. By doing so, they legitimise the kind of attack that may often lead to unnecessary severances locally.’ Clark said that the problem of ‘boomerang bosses’ – chiefs paid huge payouts before walking into a new job – had been exaggerated.

He argued that the real issue was that it was currently too easy for council leaders to force out chief executives for personal or political reasons. He called for stronger protection against dismissal on grounds other than performance.

Solace also attacked the terms of the inquiry for focusing only on local authorities. It recommended comparing council chiefs to their counterparts in other areas of the public sector, such as the forces, police, NHS and Whitehall.

Denham pledged to tackle ‘boomerang bosses’ in his speech to the Labour Party conference on September 29.

He also said council chief executive pay was ‘out of control’, and promised to safeguard low-paid workers’ pensions by limiting the entitlements of senior executives.

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