Secrecy over public pay-off costs us dear

RECENT articles in the press have highlighted the scandal of excessive remuneration and payoffs for senior council officers.

It was reported that Dave Smith, who left as Sunderland City Council chief executive weeks after a damning Ofsted report, received a payoff of £625,570 in 2015/16.

In Birmingham, the officer previously responsible for waste management (that, you will recall, is the service that we councillors get numerous complaints about) received a payoff of £414,100 in that same year.

When the previous chief executive of Birmingham City Council, Mark Rogers, left his job this February, after heavy criticism for failing to deliver the council’s budget, the members of the city council were denied access to the details of the pay-off.

This information will eventually have to be reported in the city’s accounts but, of course, this will be many months after the event and