The Swindon Labour Group Leader, Councillor Jim Grant, has joined calls by the Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, against local councils unnecessarily applying confidentiality clauses to compromise redundancy agreements with senior management.
The Swindon Labour Group Leader, Councillor Jim Grant, has joined calls by the Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, against local councils unnecessarily applying confidentiality clauses to compromise redundancy agreements with senior management.
In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, has called for local authorities to stop paying out unnecessarily high redundancy severance payments to senior managers in return for confidentiality clauses.
These calls come following Swindon Borough Council recently paying enhanced redundancy severance packages to two recent Council Chief Officers through a compromise agreement. The Swindon Labour Group Leader has had it confirmed that Swindon Borough Council use confidentiality clauses when compromise redundancy agreements are necessary- which are predominantly for senior managers.
The Swindon Labour Group Leader, Councillor Jim Grant, said:
“I support any calls for the greater equality of terms and conditions of all council workers. Confidentiality clauses are predominantly available to senior management who require compromise agreements and not lower level workers and this contributes to higher senior management redundancy packages. This is something the public sector cannot currently afford.
Locally, Conservative-controlled Swindon Borough Council does use confidentiality clauses as part of enhanced compromise redundancy agreements with outgoing senior managers. Meanwhile lower level workers only receive the statutory minimum redundancy payments, which has led to an embedded two-tier system. If Labour took charge of Swindon Council we would be seeking to end this two-tier system and would give lower level council workers terms and conditions similar to senior management.
I am pleased that the government will support a future Labour administration in doing this. And it is disappointing that local Conservative Councillors rejected a Labour motion seeking to end the two-tier system of terms and conditions in Swindon Council.”
Cllr Jim Grant
Swindon Labour Group Leader