WILL he stay or will he go? For so long the question mark over the early retirement of Sefton Council’s chief executive, Graham Haywood, lingered over the borough’s politics.
Now we have the answer – his last day in the job will be next New Year’s Eve and he will receive an exit package valued at £236,000.
The arguments over Mr Haywood’s position – also taking in a wider reshaping of the council’s top management team – are well rehearsed. Lib Dem council leader Cllr Tony Robertson’s condemned the terms of the chief officer's departure as “illogical” and a “tragic waste” of money. Cllr Robertson is widely believed to have formed a close partnership with Mr Haywood at the helm of the hung authority.
For all the acres of newsprint generated by Sefton’s politicians on this topic, Mr Haywood’s true feelings and input over his exit agreement remain shrouded. Cllr Robertson has let it be known he feels the rug was cut from underneath the chief exec by Sefton’s other two parties.
A potentially lucrative consulting career may be on the horizon for Graham Haywood...
...But probably not for former Northern Rock chief Adam Applegarth
Yet Mr Haywood has maintained – in public at least – what amounted to a dignified silence on the wrangling, refusing to renege on his duty of impartiality. In his statement to the press he even described the terms as having been “settled amicably”.
References to the outcome of Sefton’s Major Services Review (MSR) in the departure statements are interesting – the timing of Mr Haywood’s departure is being tied to the contracting-out arrangements in technical services and finance getting underway later this year.
Yet when the MSR was ushered-in in late 2006, it was made clear there would be a second phase in which even more services - such as regeneration – would be scrutinised for contracting out. So Mr Haywood's successor is sure to find the MSR continuing to absorb plenty of his or her time.
And while Cllr Robertson has pinpointed a spat over the knock-on effects of the MSR - for cuts to senior town hall management - as triggering the “sad saga” over Mr Haywood's position, all three party groups remain wedded to the principles of the grand outsourcing exercise. Other stakeholders aren’t so sure – I heard local UNISON rep Glen Williams sounding a rallying call against looming “privatisation” of entire council departments on Dune fm just the other week. Labour, Lib Dems and Tories may find what unites them is stronger than what divides them in coming months.
A few words on the financial implications of the chief exec stepping down. It is accepted his successor will receive an uplift on the c.£150,000 salary Mr Haywood enjoys. Sefton would be well advised to make sure its appointment does not land itself a place in Private Eye's 'Rotten Boroughs' column – a wonderfully barbed watchdog on town hall gold-plating, bureaucracy, incompetence and occasionally sleaze. It is reported in the latest issue that the new chief exec of Suffolk County Council will bring home £220k - £70k more than her predecessor.
Some certainly see the size of Mr Haywood's pay-off as excessive – Southport MP John Pugh is stridently among them. But with all three party leaders lauding a string achievements under his tenure, with the awarding of 4-stars by the Audit Commission just the latest, the situation doesn't smack of rewards for failure. Pity the same can't be said of today's news that former Northern Rock chief executive Adam Applegarth is set to walk away with £760,000 for having the bank turn to Northern Wreck on his watch....
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