Category Archives: Shifa Mustafa
Kerswell’s 100-page tribunal defence against racism charges
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A three-week hearing at the Employment Tribunal could cost the cash-strapped council at least £150,000 – with tax-payers picking up the legal tab again. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Cash-strapped Croydon Council, the local authority that says it … Continue reading
After two years, Simmonds legal case approaches its end-game
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A council committee is to meet in secret later this week, potentially to discuss whether the authority should settle out-of-court over allegations of race discrimination and victimisation brought by a former senior employee Croydon Council’s Employment Tribunal … Continue reading
Mayor Perry: we’ve reported no one for bankrupting borough
Tory Mayor now blames police for slow investigation – after having submitted complaint over former council leaders more than two years after the council received recommendations that it should do so. By KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter In an extraordinary … Continue reading
Council ordered to give £15,000 back-pay to ex-boss Simmonds
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council has incurred another costly legal defeat, after one of those execs axed in the ‘Kerswell kull’ two years ago wins her Employment Tribunal case Croydon Council and its chief executive, Katherine Kerswell, have been dealt … Continue reading
Perry admits he can’t take action against council’s bankrupters
Croydon’s part-time Mayor has always known that the actions of councillors and senior council staff ‘can decimate an authority… without any fear of recrimination’. But he’s been very reluctant to admit his impotency to the borough’s residents. By STEVEN DOWNES … Continue reading
Kerswell condemns councils’ accountability as inadequate
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Yesterday’s meeting of the cash-strapped council’s disciplinary committee may have committed Croydon to tens of thousands of pounds of additional legal costs, with no guarantee of any success in the cases which might eventually be brought. And … Continue reading
Councillors agree to chase Negrini for golden handshake cash
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The same committee which met in August 2020 to agree the £437,000 payment to the departing CEO today decided to ignore the advice of senior lawyers and spend more council cash in trying to recover the pay-off. … Continue reading
Kerswell still holds out over Penn Report’s recommendations
CROYDON IN CRISIS: ‘Those with the biggest responsibilities and with statutory duties let the organisation down’ according to the investigation into the council’s financial collapse. The two-year delay in publication appears to have let down the borough’s residents and council … Continue reading
Kerswell finally prepares to publish long withheld #PennReport
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council’s £193,000 per year CEO has descended into the realms of Alice In Blunderland with her latest excuses for ignoring elected councillors and the public. By STEVEN DOWNES Katherine Kerswell, Croydon’s chief executive, claims that it … Continue reading
#PennReport: No referrals sent to staff’s professional bodies
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Recommendations for action made by auditors, a Local Government Association report and two sets of legal experts have not been acted on by the current CEO. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Confidential legal advice provided to Croydon Council … Continue reading
‘Better than evens’ chance of winning Negrini legal case
CROYDON IN CRISIS: After doing their utmost for almost two years to suppress the findings and recommendations of the Penn Report investigation into the council’s financial collapse, Katherine Kerswell’s blundering local authority managed to publish two confidential legal reports on … Continue reading
#PennReport: Cover-ups and denial over Brick by Brick failure
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The ‘highly dysfunctional’ council had ‘no transparency or accountability’ over the way it handled millions of pounds of public money. And this latest extract from the Penn Report shows that some key figures refuse to accept responsibility … Continue reading
Judge orders CEO Kerswell to face tribunal over racism claims
Our Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on the latest development in the increasingly messy aftermath of Croydon’s bankruptcy Katherine Kerswell, Croydon’s £192,474 per year chief executive, will have to face up to 11 days in an Employment Tribunal and claims … Continue reading
#PennReport: Staff speak out about ‘scandalous’ bullying
CROYDON IN CRISIS: In an online poll conducted over the weekend, the overwhelming majority of iC readers – 92.5% – said that wanted to read more from the Penn Report into ‘possible wrong-doing’ at their local council. So, because Mayor … Continue reading
#PennReport: Croydon has been let down by political leaders
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The report into the council’s financial collapse that has been withheld for nearly two years includes damning criticisms of some of the council’s most senior staff and political leaders. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon’s dysfunctional council went … Continue reading
#PennReport wanted police probe into possible misconduct
CROYDON IN CRISIS: For nearly two years, the council has withheld a detailed report into ‘possible wrong-doing’ at the Town Hall, together with recommendations for a Met Police investigation and the seeking of a refund on the £437,000 pay-off to … Continue reading
Former council exec drops employment case on technicality
Guy van Dichele, the former council exec director who was suspended in February 2021 as part of the “Kerswell Kull” of senior staffers who had run the borough in the lead-up to its financial collapse, has dropped his Employment Tribunal … Continue reading
The deal is in: council facing another expensive staff pay-off
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Late cancellation of an Employment Tribunal hearing this morning avoids the council washing its dirty linen in public. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, could soon be asked to rubber-stamp another expensive “golden handshake” … Continue reading
Council exec Simmonds quits after 18 months ‘gardening leave’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The final obstacle to the release of the Penn Report into possible wrongdoing in Croydon has finally been removed, just ahead of an Employment Tribunal hearing this week. By STEVEN DOWNES Hazel Simmonds, one of five council … Continue reading
Planning chief’s position untenable as developers’ charter axed
Town Hall correspondent PEARL LEE on the seismic shift going on in the council’s planning department Croydon’s part-time Mayor, Jason Perry, will deliver on one of his key promises tonight when, at his first council cabinet meeting since his election … Continue reading
Secret report into wrong-doing at council still kept under wraps
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Eighteen months after an investigation into how the council’s finances collapsed, the report into the affair – which prompted the resignation of the council leader and four execs – remains unpublished. And the council CEO intends keeping … Continue reading
Council ignored £5m offer to revive Fairfield’s reputation
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Moves to take the management of the troubled arts centre out of the hands of Bournemouth-based BHLive are being resisted by Labour politicians. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Senior officials and the Labour cabinet member in charge of … Continue reading
Suspended director sues Kerswell for ‘race discrimination’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council running one of the country’s most ethnically diverse boroughs could be dragged through the courts, with one of its rare BAME directors accusing it, and its chief executive, of racism. By STEVEN DOWNES Hazel Simmonds, … Continue reading
Hibberd handed key economic job as exec hiring continues
One of the directors recruited at Croydon this week has a track record that saw him blamed by the trades unions in Brighton for his part in causing a damaging bins strike last year While most of what’s left of … Continue reading
Tories miss chance to call for police action over Fairfield fiasco
Political editor WALTER CRONXITE on the latest fall-out from the £37m overspend on the arts venue as the borough’s councillors – Tory as well as Labour – appear reluctant to turn their old mates over to the police The council … Continue reading
