Glasgow City CouncilFive senior members of Glasgow City Council received more than £1m in early retirement and redundancy pay-outs from restructuring proposals which did not receive any independent scrutiny, a report has found.
The Accounts Commission said the proposals appeared to have been approved by some of the individuals who directly benefited.
The five senior staff who left the council between 2021 and 2024 included former chief executive Annemarie O’Donnell.
The regulator said the actions of the senior staff “fell short of the values and principles every public sector worker and councillor are expected to follow”.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said action had already been taken to improve scrutiny.
The pay-outs came as the city council grappled with ongoing budget cuts and attempts to save money.
In 2021, Ms O’Donnell and other senior officials approved a senior management “restructure” following a report by Robert Anderson, who was at that time the council’s head of HR.
Among the restructuring plans were financial terms for the departures of five officials at a total cost of £1.035m.
The officials included Ms O’Donnell and Mr Anderson. The others were Carole Forrest, solicitor to the council and director of governance; Anne Connolly, principal adviser to the chief executive; and Elaine Galletly, head of legal and administration.
The total package included £268,000 in redundancy payments and £770,000 in extra pension costs.
However, the plans and the restructuring report were not discussed or shared with councillors.
The Accounts Commission report said there had been a lack of appropriate scrutiny, transparency and accountability in the process, and that possible conflicts of interest should have been obvious to the senior officers.
It said this displayed a “lack of judgement” as independent scrutiny should have been applied.
PA MediaMs O’Donnell’s early retirement, aged 59, had been justified on the grounds of “efficiency” under the restructuring plan.
The Accounts Commission said her departure, after a decade in the post, was “particularly difficult” to justify on the grounds of cost savings and succession planning, as the post of chief executive still remained within the council.
It said “the rationale for the former chief executive’s retirement contributing to efficiencies was, at best, unclear”.
Ms O’Donnell’s early retirement in May 2024 would have cost the council £317,000 in pension fund costs, but she has since agreed to repay the money.
Her departure came after:
- Carole Forrest left in April 2021 with a £95,000 voluntary separation payment
- Anne Connolly left in July 2021 with pension and redundancy benefits of just under £192,000
- Robert Anderson left in January 2023 with pension and redundancy benefits of just under £148,000
- Elaine Galletly left in September 2023 with pension and redundancy benefits totalling £283,000
The council’s own independent investigation into the matter, carried out by law firm Brodies and also used by the auditors, found no evidence to suggest any of the five officers acted improperly, but it had “given the appearance of a conflict of interest”.
The Brodies report said the exit terms offered to four of the former officers were in line with council policies, but that those offered to Ms O’Donnell were not “lawfully approved”.
Andrew Burns, the deputy chair of the Accounts Commission, described the report as “alarming” and said taxpayers would be troubled at how their money was being spent.
“The actions taken by a group of senior staff at Glasgow City Council fell short of the values and principles every public sector worker and councillor are expected to follow,” he said.
“There was a failure to address and document how potential conflicts of interest were considered, and a failure to demonstrate how the guiding principles of working in the public sector – in particular selflessness, integrity and objectivity – had been applied.”
Glasgow City Council’s deputy leader Richard Bell, who previously called for the officials to return their pay-outs, said “quite extraordinary steps” had to be taken to establish what happened.
He added: “While neither the independent, external review or this report from the commission make for comfortable reading, they do give us a base to build trust and confidence from – and, I think, they also serve as an important warning to other public bodies.
“Glasgow had already moved quickly to change processes and allow elected members proper oversight when senior officials leave the council, which is noted in this report.
“Members must now make sure the council reflects on the commission’s findings and uses them to drive forward a change in culture.”
Scottish Conservative finance and local government spokesman Craig Hoy said the report “could hardly be more damning” for the council.
“Glasgow’s SNP-run council rode roughshod over the rules and, as a result, departing officials received eye-watering payouts with little to no oversight,” he said.
