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Category Archives: Robert Henderson
Kerswell set to depart after completing cull of Negrini execs
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Having overseen the removal of almost all of Jo Negrini’s ‘executive leadership team’, it seems that the interim chief exec wants to move on to better things. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon Council is to begin the … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Robert Henderson, Sarah Hayward, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa
14 Comments
Exec director resigned week before suspension was announced
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Minutes from another council’s meeting shows that Guy Van Dichele was offered a job in Southampton eight days before he was ‘suspended’ from his post as executive director ‘health, well-being and adults’. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Documents … Continue reading
Criticism mounting around council’s £800 per day director
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The team of social workers which helped to drag the council’s children’s services department from an Ofsted rating of ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Good’ is breaking up, with increasing concern for the youngsters in the care of the local … Continue reading
Fears over children’s services as another director quits council
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Staff worry that an exodus of colleagues will desert bankrupt council before the worst of the cuts bite. EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES Nick Pendry, Croydon’s director of early help and children’s social care, is to follow his … Continue reading
Investigation gets under way but left waiting for Negrini
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The terms of reference for an independent investigation into the disastrous decisions and mismanagement which led to the council going broke have been leaked to Inside Croydon. STEVEN DOWNES reports It might be seen as appropriate, given … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Simpson, Robert Henderson, Section 114 notice
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Penn, Richard Simpson, RIPI, Robert Henderson, S114, Section 114
4 Comments
£800 per day exec director job goes to ‘naughty step’ Jones
The Tower Hamlets council official who was in charge of that borough’s schools when Shamima Begum and two other girls were radicalised and escaped to Syria to become “jihadi brides” has just been appointed by Croydon as the borough’s interim … Continue reading
400 job cuts – but council is recruiting exec on £800 PER DAY
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Simmering anger among staff who fear they may lose their jobs is likely to turn to fury when they realise that the council’s top-down cuts are leaving the executive floors barely touched. Exclusive by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon … Continue reading
Henderson leaves Croydon and ‘legacy of love and hope’
The executive director of the borough’s children’s and education services left the council on Friday with an emotional message to colleagues, saying it was “the best job I ever had”. By STEVEN DOWNES Eleventh-hour efforts to persuade Robert Henderson to … Continue reading
‘Desperate’ meetings with Henderson fuel CEO speculation
STEVEN DOWNES on a twist in the council’s search for new leadership Well-placed sources in Fisher’s Folly describe council leader Tony Newman as “beyond desperate” to get Robert Henderson to stay in Croydon – possibly going as far as to … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Robert Henderson, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Robert Henderson, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman
2 Comments
Croydon In Crisis: Negrini holds out for bigger pay-off
EXCLUSIVE: As more than 400 council staff are being made redundant, workers and unions express disgust that borough’s chief executive is to receive a lavish exit settlement. By STEVEN DOWNES The Mexican stand-off at Fisher’s Folly has now gone into … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Robert Henderson, Tony Newman
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Tony Newman
20 Comments
Highly rated resources director is latest to quit the council
EXCLUSIVE: Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on the how the latest departure from Fisher’s Folly will hit the borough’s health provision as well as Jo Negrini’s leadership ‘team’ Sarah Warman, Croydon Council’s director of commissioning and procurement, has announced … Continue reading
Staff accuse Negrini of ‘cowardice’ ahead of showdown meet
The council chief exec is presiding over mounting anger over her handling of the borough finances and management of hundreds of job cuts. STEVEN DOWNES reports Dozens of council staff, many of them facing the prospect of redundancy as part … Continue reading
Negrini reshuffles executive pack to cope with Henderson exit
Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on the latest changes in the executive suites at Fisher’s Folly The council could be looking to shave £150,000 or more per year from its on-going costs by not replacing Robert Henderson as the exec … Continue reading
‘Strong and stable’? Henderson is third to leave department
It was 2.43pm when the publish button was pressed yesterday at Inside Croydon Towers for our exclusive report of the imminent departure from the council of Rob Henderson, executive director of children, families and education. Two hours later, the council … Continue reading
Croydon in crisis: Children’s services chief opts to leave
EXCLUSIVE: Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on the shock decision of one of the more respected executives at Fisher’s Folly to quit his council job Robert Henderson, Croydon’s executive director for children, families and education, is to leave the … Continue reading
Croydon now has three employees paid £200,000+ per year
Our political correspondent, WALTER CRONXITE, reports on the latest startling figures coming out of the council Croydon Council had three members of staff who took home more than £200,000 in the last financial year for which figures are available. That’s … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Services, Colm Lacey, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Eleni Ioannides, Guy van Dichele, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Richard Simpson, Robert Henderson, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Colm Lacey, Croydon, Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon, Richard Simpson, Shifa Mustafa
4 Comments
Ofsted inspection rates Croydon children’s services ‘Good’
It has taken two and a half years, and an extra £25million spent on recruiting staff and providing new equipment, but Croydon Council’s children’s services department has finally been rated as “Good” by Ofsted following its latest inspection. The borough’s … Continue reading
Ofsted finds ‘sustained progress’ in children’s services
After nearly three years in special measures, Ofsted says that Croydon’s children’s services department is showing “sustained progress”, and is beginning to operate in a manner that properly serves the borough’s most vulnerable young people. The department’s social workers are … Continue reading
Council’s sorry performance after Ombudsman’s dozen rulings
One reason that rulings by the Local Government Ombudsman against local authorities, such as Croydon, attract so little attention is that the Ombudsman’s office never insists that the offending councils should publish the findings in full on their own website. … Continue reading
Another director quits job as pressure mounts on Negrini
Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on the storm gathering around the council’s ‘regeneration practitioner’ chief executive Pressure continues to mount on Croydon’s £200,000 per year chief executive, Jo Negrini. Another key member of her executive team is quitting the council, … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Richard Simpson, Robert Henderson, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, David Butler, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon, Richard Simpson, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
2 Comments
Henderson’s ‘leaving present’: Kingston’s Ofsted failure
Another local authority has failed a visit by Ofsted inspectors, this time nearby Kingston for its poor delivery of services for children and young adults with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, or SEND. For parents and carers in Kingston, the … Continue reading
