Labour council gives ex-boss £600,000 as it cuts meals on wheels
FOR a total of £24,000 a year, it provided hot meals to elderly residents in the area.
Yet a Labour-run council has axed its ‘meals on wheels’ service – even after paying its outgoing chief executive more than £600,000, it emerged yesterday.
Croydon Council, in south London, was accused of ending a lifeline after it decided not to renew the service.
The same council paid its former chief executive Jo Negrini £613,895 when she left her role two months before the council effectively went bankrupt in November 2020.
Her payoff included a loss-of-office payment of £144,356 and a pension strain payment – which occurs when someone draws their benefits earlier than expected – of £292,851 on top of her normal salary.
Campaigners warned that for some house-bound pensioners without families the meal delivery was one of their few points of human contact.
Its cancellation increases their risk of social isolation and loneliness and has come at a time when rising energy and food bills are leaving many pensioners struggling to cope.
Croydon Council said it had found alternatives for all users of the service, but critics claimed these were up to 20 per cent more expensive.
Opposition councillors said some 206 pensioners used the service, and that the majority paid for their own meals,
‘Most vulnerable will suffer’
with the council subsidising VAT costs.
Residents were told in March that the service was being cancelled, and the meal deliveries stopped last week.
It comes after Croydon Council was forced to impose a ban on non-essential spending last year after it effectively declared itself bankrupt in November 2020. The council, which has been under Labour control since 2014, said it was unable to meet its legal obligation to balance its books.
It received a £120million bailout from the Government in 2021. But its budget report this year warned it still faced an unresolved shortfall of £73million that was being investigated by auditors Grant Thornton.
Jason Perry, Conservative candidate for Croydon mayor, said he was ‘extremely worried’ about residents who relied on the scheme.
Mr Perry said: ‘It is going to be the poorest and the most vulnerable who suffer once again, and this is all down to cuts being made because Labour bankrupted the council.’
Croydon Council has proposed around £38million in budget cuts for the next financial year, including £5.7million in benefit cuts, according to website InsideCroydon. Councillors voted to remove council tax support worth up to £29 a week from around 20,000 of the borough’s most vulnerable households, the website said.
The council’s new chief executive Katherine Kerswell earns £192,474, according to its pay policy for this year.
The council confirmed its ‘meals on wheels’ service was no longer available and that it had not renewed its contract with the provider, Apetito.
Apetito withdrew its service to all Croydon residents, including its private customers. Croydon Council said it had written to all residents who received the meals. It said: ‘The council will save £24,000 per annum in direct costs, along with indirect costs of the council’s VAT subsidy for its 140 residents referred by adult social care services.
‘We cannot advise on Apetito’s independent decision to leave the Croydon market but can confirm alternatives have been identified for all residents under our care.’