Government-appointed Commissioners are pushing through the appointment of a new finance director at the Town Hall – regardless of who might become Croydon’s new Mayor. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
The wasteland: Croydon Town Hall presides over massive debts and a decayed town centre, yet they can still find the money for £200,000 per year top jobs
Croydon Council, which has debts of £1.4billion, is about to hire its fifth employee on pay of around £200,000 per year or more.
And they are carrying out the recruitment in a bit of a rush, with the decisive, final interview to be conducted on April 30 – exactly one week before the local elections take place, when, as seems likely, the political outlook at Croydon Town Hall for the next four years could be completely changed.
The recruitment of the legally required Section 151 officer is being conducted during the period of “purdah” at the Town Hall, when much council business has been shut down ahead of the local elections, which means that it is virtually impossible for the matter to be raised, questioned or debated.
It is entirely possible that the interview for the key position of corporate director of resources will be conducted without the new Mayor or anyone from their political party on the panel.
“Whoever becomes Croydon Mayor on May 8 seems likely to be lumbered with a £200,000 head of finance who they simply might not want,” a Katharine Street source told Inside Croydon.
Interim: Conrad Hall was supposed to be in the finance role in Croydon for 12 months
And the job is being offered with an extra £30,000 “special occupational scarcity allowance” in addition to the £170,000-or-so a year that was paid to the previous post-holder, Jane West, who left Fisher’s Folly somewhat abruptly last December.
“It looks like 30-grand’s worth of danger money, for anyone brave enough to take a finance job in Croydon,” said our Katharine Street source.
Senior council figures trotted out the usual market forces mush: “It’s the market rate for the position. Like it or not you can’t offer highly uncompetitive salaries and expect to get good people,” one council figure said, overlooking the council’s appalling record in hiring often ill-suited and under-qualified individuals for some of the most important jobs in Fisher’s Folly.
The job ad appeared on the website of trade magazine The Municipal Journal last Thursday, April 9 – the deadline day for candidate declarations ahead of the May 7 local elections.
Danger money: the finance director role comes with a 17% pay hike for anyone brave enough to take the job
The advertisement has been placed by executive recruitment agency Ransley Boardman, despite the council having its own in-house human resources department headed by Dean Shoesmith, another director who is being paid £150,000 per year or more.
Tory sources deny that the fast-track appointment is being conducted by Jason Perry, the Conservative Mayor of Croydon. They say the decision to recruit in this manner at this time has been made by government-appointed Commissioners.
No reason has been given for the apparent haste in the process, which has a closing date for applications of April 22. Conrad Hall took up the position as the council’s head of finances only in January, on a 12-month secondment from Newham.
Hall was hand-picked by the Commissioners, who in their first report to Whitehall, published last month, said that Croydon’s 2026-2027 budget will have to be reworked by Hall because he had not had enough time to crunch this year’s numbers before Mayor Perry’s budget and latest Council Tax increase were rubber-stamped by Croydon’s Tory councillors.
On the ad, the blurb says, “We are seeking an outstanding leader to join our corporate leadership team.
“Someone who can help us reshape the council, secure confidence in our financial recovery and deliver the high‑quality services our communities expect and deserve.”
The ad comes together with a 10-page job description, which includes: “As a member of the council’s corporate management team, the corporate director of resources will work collaboratively with other corporate directors and the chief executive to deliver the Mayor’s Business Plan, Future Croydon the transformation plan and a financially sustainable council.” The Mayor’s business plan and Future Croydon are both documents drafted under Mayor Perry and the now former chief executive, Katherine Kerswell and West, and which have been roundly criticised.
“The corporate director of resources will provide high-quality professional advice to the Executive Mayor and cabinet, the scrutiny and overview committee, the audit and governance committee, pensions committee and any other council or external bodies on all matters related to financial and legal, and commercial functions of the council.
£50,000 pay-off: CEO Katherine Kerswell left her job last October, with a special five-figure golden handshake to help her on her way
“The corporate director of resources will directly lead and manage a portfolio of financial, non-Housing property, commercial and legal services and promote the corporate competencies and values through day-to-day leadership and managerial behaviours.”
Croydon’s ad for their latest big-money signing comes just as the 2026 Town Hall Rich List is expected to be published. This will be the first for three years to include full details of top salaries from Croydon Council. Perhaps conveniently for Kerswell, the Tax-Payers’ Alliance, the shadowy organisation which compiles the Town Hall Rich List, was denied signed-off council accounts throughout her time as Croydon CEO.
Whoever lands the finance director’s job will join Elaine Jackson, the interim CEO, Annette McPartland (the “corporate director adult social care and health”), Susmita Sen (housing) and very likely Jenny Rowlands (interim assistant chief exec) in the £200,000 per year salary bracket, once “special occupational scarcity allowances” and pension contributions are added in, and together the council’s “top team” they grapple with increasing residents’ Council Tax to record levels, while cutting more services and laying off more front-line council staff.
Read more: Commissioners: council lacks focus and robust delivery plans
Read more: Kerswell takes another pay-off as she quits as council’s CEO
Read more: Council’s agency staff bill includes £726 PER HOUR consultant
Read more: McMahon acts after serious concerns on ‘aspects of leadership’
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
- Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network