Cash windfall for departing Wolverhampton Council chiefs
Two of the highest paid officers at Wolverhampton City Council received an extra £41,809 on top of £144,600 they were paid between them to leave their jobs.
Two of the highest paid officers at Wolverhampton City Council received an extra £41,809 on top of £144,600 they were paid between them to leave their jobs.
The figures were revealed in council accounts and relate to former regeneration boss Steve Boyes and former customer services chief Richard Hill.
Both men were axed in a cull of senior management in February 2011.
The council today refused to comment on why additional "termination benefits" were paid. It brings the total paid to just three officers, including former children's services director Roy Lockwood, to more than £280,000. Mr Lockwood retired last year but received £94,469 in termination benefits. The council is currently employing two temporary directors – one on £785 a day and the other on £700 a day.
Mr Boyes, who had been on £121,000, is now interim assistant director of development and leisure at Waltham Forest Council in London, while Mr Hill is working for the Financial Services Ombudsman.
He had been earning £113,817 a year in Wolverhampton. City Council spokesman Tim Clark said: "We would not say under what circumstances termination benefits were revised."
Opposition Conservative finance spokesman Councillor Wendy Thompson said: "It gives the impression that it was not a clear cut matter when these officers left.
"All the way through the restructuring we were told that this was a way of saving money for Wolverhampton."
The council has saved £80 million over the past four years and needs to save a further £44m over the next five.
Twelve of the highest earning officers were made redundant last year to save £1m. Redundancy payouts have cost taxpayers £7.6m over two years.