£27k pay-off for council top brass

WEST Lindsey District Council has been forced to reveal how much it paid to its deputy chief executive when he resigned after being suspended for alleged gross misconduct.

Adrian McCormick was only in his job for a year before he was suspended in January - but astonishingly he got a £27,525 pay-off.

The council had said it could not disclose the sum due to confidentiality laws but was forced to reveal the amount under the government’s new rules on transparency.

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In a bizarre twist, Mr McCormick was employed by WLDC in a bid to cut spending and has ended up costing the taxpayer thousands.

Mr McCormick, who was on £80,000 a year, was also the council’s director of resources and responsible for its finances.

He was suspended for alleged gross misconduct, which includes things like abuse or harassment, bullying and corrupt practice.

Mr McCormick did a leadership and management course at Loughborough College in 2007 to 2008 followed by a post graduate course in management and finance at the University of Lincoln.

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In 2010 Mr McCormick spent ten months at Hull City Council working as interim head of improvement and transformation programme director.

While he was deputy chief executive and director of resources at WLDC, Mr McCormick was also director of business transformation at a company called BTC Ltd.

A WLDC spokesman said: “Any decision made is a legal decision that is in line with the constitution and subject to relevant legal checks.

“Therefore in order to ensure we follow legal processes, West Lindsey District Council is not in a position to comment on the circumstances surrounding staff employment as this is a private matter.”