Category Archives: Elaine Jackson
Council’s £166,000 assistant CEO quits Croydon after 8 weeks
More problems with recruitment and retention at the cash-strapped council as the woman tipped for top job heads for the exit. KEN LEE reports Jenny Rowlands, who was hired in February as the council’s £166,000 per year assistant chief executive, … Continue reading
Croydon’s rewards for failure laid bare in Town Hall Rich List
Katherine Kerswell, Croydon’s chief executive who issued three Section 114 notices of effective bankruptcy during her time in charge at the council, was taking home salary and pensions totalling £223,838 in the year before she left Fisher’s Folly. Yet Kerswell … Continue reading
Council rushes through £200,000 finance job ahead of elections
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 Croydon Council, which has debts of £1.4billion, is about to hire … Continue reading
Commissioners: council lacks focus and robust delivery plans
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Government releases report critical of the lack of progress and slow pace of improvements in finances under Tory Mayor Jason Perry. By WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor Six weeks out from the local elections, the government has published … Continue reading
Whatever could they mean? Commissioners call for ‘honesty’
In what is overall a highly critical report from the government-appointed Commissioners after six months working closely with the council run by successive chief execs Katherine Kerswell (until she left in October with a £50,000 pay-off) and Elaine Jackson, and … Continue reading
No cover-up over £12m SEND overspend, claims council chief
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Town Hall bosses have been forced to accept 23 recommendations from external accountants after IT problems saw them lose track of thousands of payments, in the latest council cock-up that was described by a veteran Tory councillor … Continue reading
It was a bad deal for Croydon. Why did they allow it to happen?
CROYDON COMMENTARY: With Tory Mayor Jason Perry using £½million of public money as a hush fund, RICHARD HOWARD, pictured right, the LibDem mayoral candidate, lays out all the obvious flaws with the council’s Red Clover Gardens scheme Two years ago, … Continue reading
Labour refuse to respond to Cummings’s budget challenge
WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor, on a sham challenge issued to rival political parties by a borrowing-dependent Conservative administration that is trying to con the public that they have ‘fixed the finances’ As Tory Mayor Jason Perry prepares to deliver what … Continue reading
Budget-buster Perry hires another six-figure salaried ‘interim’
KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter, on the latest £150,000 per year staff signing by Croydon’s bankrupt council Jason Perry, Croydon’s £84,000 per year executive Mayor who has closed four public libraries to save money and axed lollipop road safety … Continue reading
33% Council Tax increase: Mayor Perry’s legacy for Croydon
Typical households will be paying £600 more in Council Tax in the coming year than they did before the Conservative Mayor took office, while yet more services are cut. But part-time Perry and his councillor colleagues did vote themselves a … Continue reading
Finance chief leaves council three months sooner than planned
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Weeks after the abrupt departure of CEO Katherine Kerswell with a £50,000 ‘farewell present’, the early exit of head of finance Jane West prompts speculation that she has become the latest council boss to receive a generous … Continue reading
Commissioners switch email in effort to protect whistleblowers
CROYDON IN CRISIS: After complaints that staff could not trust that their messages to the government-appointed Commissioners would be secure from their council bosses, a MHCLG official has set up an independent channel. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Three months after … Continue reading
Commissioners critical of Mayor Perry’s risky financial plans
Council Tax UP Borrowing UP Council debts UP An official report ahead of a Town Hall meeting tomorrow night paints a grim picture. And the government Commissioners are unimpressed. By WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor Croydon’s financial position “remains extremely fragile … Continue reading
More churn at the top as interim directors leave the council
The rapid turnover among senior staff at Fisher’s Folly suggests that the ‘leadership issues’ which were in-part responsible for Commissioners being sent in to run Croydon Council may continue to be a problem for those left behind after Katherine Kerswell’s … Continue reading
Jackson agrees to stand-in after Kerswell’s abrupt departure
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Council’s assistant CEO forced to cancel retirement plans in order to fill in for her former boss, who is being given a £50,000 pay-off for not working her notice period. By STEVEN DOWNES Elaine Jackson has been … Continue reading
Kerswell quits! But what happens next at crisis-hit council?
Mayor Jason Perry’s political rivals call for his resignation after a week when auditors have warned over ‘unsustainable’ finances and his CEO has left Croydon with a generous £50,000 pay-off. By STEVEN DOWNES Katherine Kerswell may not be replaced as … Continue reading
Now Kerswell’s deputy CEO joins the rush for council exits
EXCLUSIVE: To lose one of her trusted inner circle might be unfortunate for Croydon chief exec Katherine Kerswell, but to lose two is beginning to look like an exodus. By STEVEN DOWNES Elaine Jackson, the senior council executive who Croydon … Continue reading
Podcast: LibDem candidate says he’d clear-out council execs
EXCLUSIVE: Our Croydon Insider podcast, exclusive premium content for our paying subscribers, this month went behind the headlines to look at the scandal of agency payments at the cash-strapped council, where they are paying more than £700 per hour for … Continue reading
CEO Kerswell ordered block on staff accessing Inside Croydon
CROYDON IN CRISIS: ‘Sinister’ and ‘pathetic’ are how some council figures have described the council’s internet ban on this website. A FoI request has unearthed details of how the £204,000 pa CEO has been spending her time pursuing her own … Continue reading
Judgement Day has happened for Croydon. Now we need to act
CROYDON COMMENTARY: This borough has been failed multiple times, by the Mayor, by the majority of opposition councillors, by council directors, and by the government. PETER UNDERWOOD, the Green Party’s candidate for Croydon Mayor in 2026, offers some suggestions The … Continue reading
Labour figures accuse wasteful Perry of ‘serious incompetence’
‘Once again, the people of Croydon are paying the price for the failure of politicians who don’t have our community’s interests at heart’, according to 2026 Mayoral candidate Rowenna Davis Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Croydon, Rowenna Davis, has accused … Continue reading
