Job’s a good ‘un: Croydon’s cash-strapped council has hiked the rate for the top job at Fisher’s Folly by more than 20%, to £275,000 per year. Plus pension. Plus exes
CROYDON IN CRISIS: As the council faces having to replace its interim CEO with an interim interim CEO, the Mayor splashes the cash to try to find someone for what he calls ‘London’s most important leadership role’
Loadsamoney: recently re-elected Mayor Jason Perry has failed to stabilise the finances at a council which is now £1.7bn in debt
Recruitment ads for the cash-strapped council’s new chief executive officer have appeared offering the successful applicant a salary of £275,000 per year, plus exes and a mammoth pension pot.
That’s £50,000 more in salary than the incumbent, Elaine Jackson, is being paid.
It will place the CEO of Croydon Council in a pay bracket with the top four or five local authority staffers in England and Wales.
Croydon Council has debts of £1.7billion, and has needed government bail-outs with emergency loans every year since 2020. Twelve months ago, the government appointed Commissioners to oversee the management of Croydon’s finances.
The high-powered job ad maintains the delusion that the council’s finances have “stabilised”, a concept played out in the election manifesto of Mayor Jason Perry but not believed by anyone who is not on the payroll of his Tory council cabinet.
But the job ad does make an important admission: the council, in particular its most senior officials such as Nathan Elvery, Jo “Negreedy” Negrini and Katherine Kerswell, have over the past decade or more lost the trust of the people they are supposed to serve.
The council tech bods appear to have built an entire microsite devoted to the recruitment of a single individual. In the near-700-word sales spiel about the job, the council website states: “Croydon wants a chief executive who will be a visible champion for the borough… someone who will engage openly with residents, communities and businesses, earning trust through honesty, delivery and presence.”
‘Earning trust’: council sources see the CEO job ad as a commentary on Katherine Kerswell’s time in charge
“Honesty, delivery and presence”. It would make a most refreshing change.
This from a council which only yesterday had its lawyers at the High Court trying to avoid a Judicial Review over a previous CEO’s decision to close off its public offices from the public.
This from a local authority which has acquired one of the worst reputations in the country for its handling of Freedom of Information requests from the public.
This from a local authority which, between 2023 and 2026, has hiked its Council Tax by 33%, so that now the vast majority of households are paying more than £2,000 per year for vastly reduced public services.
This from a local authority where councillors have emails to the media blocked by officials, without being told what is happening to their communications tools, and where the petty previous CEO ordered that staff should be banned from reading Inside Croydon on their office computers.
New ceiling: the Croydon CEO’s salary will place them among the top five-or-so council staffers in the country for pay, and potentially see pay rates for all Croydon directors increase
The job ad comes with a little video nasty featuring Mayor Jason Perry, and the spiel is delivered under a series of punchy (or, it is assumed, what are supposed to be punchy) sub-heads.
It starts thus: “Croydon: London’s largest borough. London’s most important leadership role.” No risk of understatement here.
“A borough with momentum”, whatever that’s supposed to mean.
“From recovery to renewal”. Did we miss the recovery then?
Lost trust: Jo Negrini, when Croydon CEO, entered into several dodgy deals, including Brick by Brick and granting public money to Boxpark
Inevitably, the ad includes several slightly boastful claims which do not tally with the accepted facts. But this line is unarguable: “Appointing the right chief executive is one of the most important decisions Croydon Council will make.”
One intriguing paragraph seems to suggest that the Commissioners are seeking someone who can supersede the elected leader and take on a higher profile role, “a visible champion for the borough, someone who will… raise its profile locally, regionally and nationally”.
And it continues: “Someone who will engage openly with residents, communities and businesses, earning trust through honesty, delivery and presence.”
So not Katherine Kerswell, then. Or Negreedy. Or Elvery.
Indeed, the ad doubles down on its description, in a move that goes far away from the incompetents and ego-maniacs who have inhabited the 7th floor of the glass palace that is Fisher’s Folly: “Croydon Council wants a chief executive who can inspire its workforce, rebuild pride in the organisation, and create a culture that is open, accountable and high-performing.”
Now wouldn’t that be nice?
The timing of the placing of the ad is the latest illustration of how badly run Croydon Council continues to be. Everyone at Fisher’s Folly knew, as long ago as last October, that a new head of service would need to be appointed during the course of 2026. By only advertising for the job in the second week of July, 10 months later, it means it is impossible for there to be anything resembling a smooth handover or transition.
The vacancy has arisen because Elaine Jackson, the interim CEO, has decided to step down in September. Jackson, who had been Kerswell’s assistant CEO, was confirmed as interim chief exec last December, through until December 2026.
Got to go: Elaine Jackson is retiring due to ill-health
Jackson had meant to retire from work last year due to ill-health, but was persuaded to stick around. It seems she can no longer do that.
Jackson’s early departure means that Croydon will be without a CEO for at least three months, meaning that an interim CEO will need to be appointed to replace the interim CEO. Jackson’s appointee of her own replacement as assistant CEO, Jenny Rowlands, scarpered within weeks of arriving in Croydon, so won’t be around to fill in.
According to the recruitment timetable published with the job ad, the various rounds of interviews won’t be completed until the autumn, with the appointment due to be approved by a Town Hall council meeting on October 21. If the successful candidate is in any kind of senior role, they might then have to work three months’ notice…
The massive 22% pay hike for the CEO – Jackson was on £220,000 – not only ups the ante for the candidates, it also raises the salary “headroom” for pay hikes for existing senior execs working in Fisher’s Folly, such as new finance chief Conrad Hall and the oleaginous head of HR, Dean Shoesmith, someone whose own CV would not stand up to rigorous examination.
Commissioner-approved: Ged Curran, head the government panel which approved the CEO salary
Hall was confirmed in the finance director’s role earlier this year, having originally arrived in January on secondment from another London council. Hall’s appointment is an example of the creeping inflation among Croydon’s six-figure salaried directors: his job was advertised at £200,000; his predecessor was paid £180,000.
The massive salary offer for the CEO job might also reflect that Croydon is entering a sellers’ market in respect of senior civic servants: Greenwich and East Surrey (a new council) are already out there recruiting for their heads of service. Someone at Croydon, no doubt with the approval of Ged Curran and the Commissioners, thinks they need to make a pay offer to turn heads.
With the average base salary for Croydon Council employees at £35,000, the move will put any incoming CEO on a pay level nearly eight times greater than their staff. Which some may consider just might be a bit of an obstacle to all those high aspirations of inspiring the workforce, rebuilding pride in the organisation and creating an open, accountable and high-performing culture.
After all, it’s not as if there isn’t a lot at stake: “This is a rare opportunity to lead one of London’s most important boroughs at a defining moment in its history.”
Applications close on September 4, when Jackson will already be on her way out of the Fisher’s Folly exit. To submit your CV, click here
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: HR director’s suspension at Sutton raises serious questions
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Surely what Croydon needs most urgently is a Chief Exec who stands up to the Mayor? When I worked for a short while at Taberner House, decades ago, I learned that politics rather than sense governed decisions, that Party members counted far, far more than mere Council Tax payers, one phone call from a party member over-ruled the opinions of thousands of us plebs.
If I have to complain about something or request information, they way I voted in local elections or membership of any or no political parties should carry no weight whatsoever.
It is also becoming a sellers market at lower grades. Qualified professionals will be researching potential employers before applying. I know of one person who was considering applying to Croydon for higher pay but to the best of my knowledge did not once they became more aware of Croydon’s problems.
We’ve heard of a potential CEO candidate who contacted Mayor Perry to discuss the possible job.
When piss-poor failed to respond, the candidate abandoned their interest and looked elsewhere
And the 3rd highest council tax ripoff in the whole country.!
Sack the lot and put some school kids in charge! Couldn’t be worse
Bearing in mind that a Croydon High club is working on launching a satellite, that is not a daft idea at all. A-Level project maybe?
People had the opportunity to “sack the lot” in May yet they decided not to sack PPP.
Perhaps what is needed at the 2030 council and mayoral elections are more independent candidates who are both credible as individuals and have credible policies? But they need to start the work now and not a fee weeks before the election.
Despite the army of HR people ‘under’ Shagger Shoesmith (forgive the pun) taxpayers will be paying an external recruitment company GatenbySanderson six figures for this hire.