Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Croydon Mayor faces mounting pressure to dismiss council CEO Katherine Kerswell amid growing criticism and calls for change in local government leadership.
There is growing pressure on Mayor Jason Perry to fire Katherine Kerswell, his £204,000 chief executive.
According to senior Katharine Street sources, government officials are extremely disappointed with the chaotic response from the financially strapped Croydon Council after they were informed that Secretary of State Angela Rayner is “minded” to send in Commissioners to take over the council’s management.
Perry faces a serious risk of what some at Town Hall are referring to as “the Negrini Conundrum” if he fires his chief executive. If the mayor of Croydon is unable to prove that Kerswell committed egregious misconduct, the financially strapped council may be forced to pay a severance payment that could amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
As recently as February of this year, Kerswell’s salary was increased by £12,000 annually. Mayor Perry would find it difficult to establish a good reason to fire the CEO and avoid a costly payoff.
This is true even though Kerswell has now been in charge of three S114 Notices, record-high Council Tax, “runaway” spending at the authority, and the potential for Commissioners to take over her responsibilities.
In local government circles, Kerswell is infamous for making sure she was well “compensated” when she was let go from high-level positions in the past.
After only 16 months, Kerswell received a payoff of £420,000, which was close to Negrini’s salary, when she was fired from her position as managing director of Kent County Council, which was then under Conservative control, in December 2011.
The Kent Messenger reported that the County Council
“never fully explained the full background to Ms Kerswell’s departure or accounted for why she was given a £420,000 payout…
There were rumours that she had fallen out with the Conservative administration.”
As Inside Croydon reported last month,
“The council’s £204,000 per year chief executive probably has most to lose over the announcement, made by local government minister Jim McMahon… after he and Whitehall mandarins lost patience with cash-strapped Croydon and its ‘runaway’ finances under Kerswell, which he said was creating yet another ‘financial crisis.”
The debt load in Croydon has stubbornly stayed between £1.4 billion and £1.5 billion during Kerswell’s time at her seventh-floor office at Fisher’s Folly.
Another undesirable record was set in March of this year when the government authorized the most recent bailout for Croydon, a capitalization direction of £136 million, more than any other local authority except one.
“This is simply not sustainable,”
McMahon said, adding that Croydon has received £553 million in Emergency Financial Support since March 2021.
However, Kerswell and Tory Mayor Perry’s best plan has been to raise the borough’s debt to £2.2 billion by late 2027. The improvement and assurance panel called these plans “impossible” in its most recent report to the MHCLG, stating that they would cause Croydon Council to completely “collapse.”
Headmistress Kerswell, in her note to the government last week, wrote:
“Descriptions such as ‘runaway position’ and ‘outlier’ are not supported by comparative data. Croydon’s financial pressures are consistent with those of many London boroughs.
There’s really no coming back from that,”
The letter states that Croydon’s financial position has deteriorated relative to other councils. This is not supported by data when measured against core spending power.”
Although Kerswell’s Croydon was the only London borough to rattle its begging bowl for £136million.
a Katharine Street source said at the weekend.
Within the next two weeks, the government is anticipated to make a final decision regarding the appointment of a commissioner or commissioners to oversee Croydon Council in lieu of Kerswell and Perry.
With local elections less than a year away, it is unclear if Perry will intervene in advance and fire the council chief executive, possibly at great financial expense to the borough’s citizens.
“He might just wait for the inevitable and let whoever is appointed as Commissioner have that final conversation with Katherine about her failure and untenable position,”
another source said.
“It would be just like Perry to duck the big decisions.
And Croydon’s residents would probably still have to pick up the bill.”
What are the key points fueling the calls for Kerswell’s removal?
Under Kerswell’s direction since late 2020, Croydon Council has accrued debts estimated to total £2.2 billion by 2027 and issued three Section 114 Notices, essentially declaring bankruptcy. The council’s “runaway” finances and lack of viable recovery strategies have angered government leaders.
More than 90% of respondents disagreed with a peer evaluation by the Local Government Association that praised Kerswell and Mayor Perry as strong leaders. Internally, Kerswell has come under fire for things like imposing an internet ban that prevents employees from seeing Inside Croydon, a vital local news website, which some have called “sinister” and “pathetic.”
Kerswell alienated critics by sending a long, allegedly condescending letter to council employees defending her performance and dismissing the need for intervention after the government revealed plans for Commissioners.