Nathan Elvery, for eight years one of Croydon’s most senior council officials, has been sacked from his latest job at West Sussex County Council, where he was chief executive.
Plenty to smile about: Nathan Elvery could get a £100,000 pay-off from West Sussex
In 2014, Elvery had been promoted to the role of CEO at Croydon Council by Tony Newman, the Labour leader of the council.
Elvery had been a key player in the Tory administration in Croydon under Mike Fisher, overseeing wide-ranging job cuts – “Efficiency is in our DNA”, Elvery said – and as the council finance director and then deputy CEO he was an influential figure in the decision to demolish Taberner House, the council’s headquarters, and to spend £140million on a glass palace – Fisher’s Folly – to replace it.
But despite being handed the top job by Newman, Elvery left Croydon in 2016 to take up a similar post, and £190,000 annual salary, in Chichester.
That move saw Elvery provoke controversy from the very start of his new role, because his appointment came with a £47,500 “golden hello” – an amount equivalent to one-quarter of his annual pay, dressed up as relocation expenses to make it tax-free. Problem was, Elvery never did relocate from his family home in Epsom, causing his new employers at West Sussex some embarrassing accounting issues with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
In Croydon, Elvery helped to get Fisher’s Folly built and worked closely with Croydon Tories, such as Cllr Jason Perry (left)
That, though, is not thought to be the ultimate cause of Elvery’s downfall, which was confirmed yesterday in a terse statement from WSCC’s headquarters in Chichester.
Elvery had been on “gardening leave” since September.
It seems that he may have thought he might have an opportunity to return to his desk. As recently as last week, he was using his personal social media account to Tweet supportive messages and congratulations to staff working for West Sussex.
Whatever Elvery might have hoped, yesterday his fate was confirmed.
A WSCC spokesperson said, “The chief executive Nathan Elvery has now left West Sussex County Council by mutual consent… We are not able to say anything further as it is confidential.”
The latter part of the statement suggests that some kind of settlement has been reached, possibly worth up to £100,000 for Elvery in an attempt to avoid any subsequent action.
Even as recently as last week, Elvery was tweeting supportive messages to county council staff
Three other senior members of WSCC staff left around the time that Elvery was suspended, including two who had worked with the local authority exec when he was running Croydon Council: human resources director Heather Daley and programme director Ravi Dhindsa.
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That’s the least surprising news of the year!
Nothing seems to stop these people. He will keep his head down for a few months, then pop up again at some other lucky council.
I think you meant to say some other unlucky council.
How about a return to Croydon with Negrini going to WSCC?
It’s the sort of transfer deal that even Harry Redknapp would struggle to pull off.
What’s the bet that the consistent single thumbs down in all this stream comes from none other that Nathan Elvery himself!
See? I was right!
There’s a rapidly growing number of people here in West Sussex who want some serious answers about how this happened. The idea that he didn’t do anything wrong “legally” doesn’t fly.
Someone employed him and clearly didn’t check out his previous work history, and also gave him a contract allowing him to all but financially and morally bankrupt WSCC.
This country has independent watchdogs for pretty much everything, but seemingly not local authorities.
Whether or not the noise being made will amount to anything, I don’t know, but it will be heard by some relevant people ASAP.
Elvery seems either to forget, or not to care, that this undeserved wealth isn’t coming from the sale of an item made in the private sector, but it is tax-payers’ money.
I live in hope of updating this post in the future, but not holding my breath.