Western Daily Press (Saturday)
£98k payout row sparks policy change
BDO have confirmed they are in agreement with the council’s
response to the recommendations MIKE JACKSON’S REPORT
BRISTOL City Council is set to change how it makes severance payments to senior staff following criticism over its final payout to former chief executive Anna Klonowski.
Future financial statements will make it clear when “discretionary payments” form part of severance packages, if councillors accept the advice of a top council official.
The recommendations of the local authority’s head of paid service, Mike Jackson, form the council’s official response to a report criticising how it arrived at a decision on Ms Klonowski’s final pay.
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees insisted that Ms Klonowski’s contract entitled her to the £196,000 payout when she left the chief executive role in September 2017.
But in a report that appeared on the council’s website on Monday, March 11, auditor BDO concluded it was “inappropriate to conclude that all of the final payment was contractual” and said there were “transparency issues” around the payout.
The auditor reclassified half – or £98,000 – of the final sum as a discretionary payment for “loss of office” when compiling the local authority’s end-of-year accounts.
Questions sent to the council on Tuesday, March 12, remain unanswered and a request for an interview with the mayor has met with no response. Instead, the council has published its official response on its website without any fanfare.
The response, contained in a report to full council, does not contain any apology or other comments from the mayor, other councillors or council staff.
It simply recommends the formal acceptance of the auditor’s recommendations and a proposed action plan for implementing them by May of this year. The auditor recommended the council should draft a policy and guidance for severance packages, including “financial limits and approval levels” and detailing how they should be authorised.
It also suggested any discretionary payments should be actively approved by the human resources committee or head of paid services and should be disclosed and fully explained in financial statements.
Mr Jackson’s report says: “The action plan has been the subject of discussion with BDO and they have confirmed they are in agreement with the council’s response to the recommendations.”
The auditor’s report and the council’s official response will be considered by full council at their next meeting on March 19. Although three of the auditor’s recommendations are statutory, the council is not obliged to accept them or take any action.