Severance talks with under-fire council chief

DISCUSSIONS are under way about a severance package for a council chief executive whose authority has been strongly criticised for the running of its children’s services department and for poor overall leadership, we can reveal.

Powys County Council chief executive Jeremy Patterson has been on sick leave since last October, days after a damning report from the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales said vulnerable children had been put “at risk of harm” because the children’s services department had been poorly run.

The report said there were “serious performance issues with front line children’s services” following “a period of considerable change”, adding: “A lack of assessment, care and support planning combined with an inconsistent approach to working in line with the child sexual exploitation guidance and the management of sexual exploitation and risk assessment framework process placed children at risk of harm.”

Evidence was found of missed opportunities to safeguard children, despite requests for support, while there was no effective system in place to identify and manage risks.

Following Mr Patterson’s departure on sick leave, an acting chief executive, David Powell, the authority’s director of strategic resources, was appointed.

In January this year, a report written by Sean Harriss , an external adviser to the Welsh Government, was published that was highly critical of leadership at the council.

It said: “The council has very significant challenges in respect of strengthening its corporate leadership and capacity ... As a result of the work I have undertaken I have concluded that the greatest challenge that the organisation faces is a shortfall in the expertise and capacity in respect of delivering improvement journey of the magnitude that the council faces.”

One of the strategic recommendations made by Mr Harriss was “that consideration is given to the best way of dealing the ongoing absence of the existing chief executive”.

A councillor, who didn’t wish to be named, said: “Things cannot go on as they are. The last time Jeremy Patterson was seen at the council was immediately after the damning independent report on the social services department. Then days later we were told he was on sick leave, since when nearly six months have passed and there has been no update about what is going on. The whole authority is in a terrible state of limbo, and yet there are very serious problems to address.”

Asked to comment on speculation that the council was discussing a severance package for Mr Patterson, a spokesman for the authority said: “All we can say is that the chief executive remains on sick leave.”

But council leader Rosemarie Harris went further. Asked whether the council was in discussion with Mr Patterson about a severance package, she said: “We are talking to him on a regular basis. Obviously having a chief executive on sick leave is difficult. By the nature of things the talks have to be confidential. But we are making progress, as will become clear before long.”

When it was put to Mrs Harris that people were saying it would be wrong in the circumstances for Mr Patterson to receive a big payoff, she said: “People are saying such things and they will say such things. If he were to go he would have certain protections as a chief executive.”

She did not agree that the authority was in “limbo”: “That’s not true at all. We are moving ahead by agreement with the Welsh Government.”