Local Council Fat Cats
The newspapers reported yesterday on a council chief in London who was retired on a £50,000 a year pension - only to be re-hired shortly afterwards by a neighbouring council.
The highly paid chief executive was granted a payout on the grounds of permanent ill health - but went on to earn more than £200,000 a year in consultancy fees on top of his £50,000 a year pension.
Nick Johnson - 57 - 'retired' from the London Borough of Bexley in 2007 - having spent the previous six months on sick leave which all seems very nice and cosy.
Yet within weeks he was well enough to begin working as a consultant for Hammersmith and Fulham council - which is only about 10 miles away.
Johnson's temporary role in Hammersmith and Fulham lasted for more than three years - so Bexley Council is presumably asking for its (our) money back from whomsoever assessed him as 'permanently unfit for work'.
During which time he was paid £830,000 in addition to his annual pension - and on top of a £300,000 payout he reportedly received on leaving Bexley council.
Local MPs are now up in arms - as they should be - but as ever it's a case of too little too late.
Because this kind of special treatment is rife in local government - where public funds are freely used to line the pockets of its most senior officials.
Low paid workers delivering front-line services don't qualify for this kind of privileged treatment - needless to say.
The highly paid chief executive was granted a payout on the grounds of permanent ill health - but went on to earn more than £200,000 a year in consultancy fees on top of his £50,000 a year pension.
Nick Johnson - 57 - 'retired' from the London Borough of Bexley in 2007 - having spent the previous six months on sick leave which all seems very nice and cosy.
Yet within weeks he was well enough to begin working as a consultant for Hammersmith and Fulham council - which is only about 10 miles away.
Johnson's temporary role in Hammersmith and Fulham lasted for more than three years - so Bexley Council is presumably asking for its (our) money back from whomsoever assessed him as 'permanently unfit for work'.
During which time he was paid £830,000 in addition to his annual pension - and on top of a £300,000 payout he reportedly received on leaving Bexley council.
Local MPs are now up in arms - as they should be - but as ever it's a case of too little too late.
Because this kind of special treatment is rife in local government - where public funds are freely used to line the pockets of its most senior officials.
Low paid workers delivering front-line services don't qualify for this kind of privileged treatment - needless to say.
