Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Croydon Council appoints ‘Interim Adam’ to a key planning role at a £1,000 daily rate, raising questions about public spending amid local budget pressures.
This website has found that Heather Cheesbrough’s stand-in replacement is a “interim specialist” who has received over £500,000 in severance arrangements from previous local councils. The council has not yet announced who will take over the borough’s top planning position.
Heather Cheesbrough resigned from her £130,000-a-year position as the “director of planning and sustainable regeneration” at Croydon Council two months ago.
However, no formal announcement, news release, or picture opportunity with Mayor Jason Perry welcoming her replacement has been made.
That might be for a good cause.
Within Croydon’s initial investigation into Adam Wilkinson’s career revealed a long list of frequently temporary, highly lucrative positions in local government where Croydon’s “interim director of planning and strategic planning” has pocketed over £500,000 in settlement payments and golden handshakes, on top of his extremely generous salary and pension fund.
Wilkinson may be serving as the most senior official in Croydon’s planning department as a “interim” until Cheesbrough’s permanent successor is found, though the council’s HR department will have had three months’ notice of the executive’s departure to find a suitable replacement.
Additionally, Wilkinson might be compensated by the financially constrained council on a stand-in basis, which would involve fees of about £1,000 per day. After all, Wilkinson has negotiated such agreements for himself in past roles.
Although Wilkinson’s appointment was probably approved by Mayor Perry and his top executive, Katherine Kerswell, it is unknown if his entire recent employment experience was listed on his resume or application when he was employed by Croydon.
Ten years ago, The Times revealed that Wilkinson was “a Northern Powerhouse chief on £1,000 a day” and that he had obtained two £500,000 settlements in a “‘revolving door’ scandal,” according to The Thunderer.
At that time, Wilkinson served as the North East Combined Authority’s acting CEO three days a week. The public was paying him the equivalent of a £248,000 yearly salary.
In January 2015, Derby City Council offered Wilkinson £140,000 as part of a voluntary redundancy package.
This came after Wilkinson was paid £365,000 by Kent County Council in 2008 for his one-year tenure as director of environment and regeneration.
The same Kent County Council would face harsh criticism once more after giving its outgoing managing director, who had only been in office for 16 months, a £420,000 leave bonus in December 2011.
At that time, Wilkinson served as the North East Combined Authority’s acting CEO three days a week. The public was paying him the equivalent of a £248,000 yearly salary.
In January 2015, Derby City Council offered Wilkinson £140,000 as part of a voluntary redundancy package.
This came after Wilkinson was paid £365,000 by Kent County Council in 2008 for his one-year tenure as director of environment and regeneration.
The same Kent County Council would face harsh criticism once more after giving its outgoing managing director, who had only been in office for 16 months, a £420,000 leave bonus in December 2011.
Wilkinson was director of environment and regeneration at Kent CC, but he quit his £70,000-a-year position after only a year because he had finally realized that the weekly commute from his Yorkshire family home to the Maidstone council offices “wasn’t working out.”
He was reported as saying at that time:
“I was living in Maidstone during the week and going back to West Yorkshire at the weekend. It was tiring and stressful.”
Wilkinson was paid through a limited company, which The Times investigation referred to as “a tax-efficient arrangement,” rather than as an employee when he arrived at the North East Combined Authority. For Wilkinson, they meant tax-efficient, not for the taxpayer.
Then, Wilkinson was paid £825 a day, plus an agency fee of 16%, and was having his accommodation and travel paid for, too.
“He will remain in post for six months to nine months until a permanent chief can be hired by the authority,”
The Times reported in 2015.
In 2014, Wilkinson had secured a three-year contract extension as CEO at Derby City Council before landing such a lucrative position at the NECA.
He left that position in January 2015 due to “voluntary redundancy,” and he received £100,000 in “compensation” along with three months’ salary.
According to Wilkinson’s former employers, it was the “right time to look for a new challenge, perhaps in a different sector.”
However, the council correspondent for BBC Radio Derby said the quick departure was “not a surprise.”
“I’ve been told by multiple sources at the council that he has been looking for alternative employment,”
the BBC reporter said.
“It’s been something of an open secret within the Council House.”
He suggested that Wilkinson’s relations with the council’s elected leadership “were uncomfortable”.
In addition to his three days in Newry, Wilkinson would receive £145,000 a year as managing director for a three- to four-day workweek, according to the Bexley Times. You can figure it out.
“I feel honoured to have been offered the opportunity to fulfil the role as BexleyCo’s first managing director and I look forward to starting on July 3,”
Wilkinson was reported as saying in a council press release.
In addition to Wilkinson’s stint as “interim commercial director” at Manchester City Council, Jobs would go on to serve as interim chief executive at the Cornwall and Isle of Scilly “leadership board” and as “director of economy and growth” at Cornwall County Council.
In Southampton, where he began working as an “executive director-place” in April 2022, Wilkinson reportedly jumped on the council gravy train. The city council’s annual returns state that the “role was undertaken by Adam Wilkinson via an external company.”
This information was discovered by Inside Croydon more recently. With VAT excluded, the payment for the 12-month period 2022–2023 was an astounding £242,146.
What are the implications of Wilkinson’s £1000 daily rate for Croydon’s budget?
Even before taking into account employer pension and National Insurance contributions, Wilkinson’s annualized cost, at £1,000 per day (assuming a regular 220 working days), would be over £220,000, much above the permanent director compensation of £130,000 annually.
The premium rate is intended to make up for the fact that temporary positions usually do not come with paid leave, redundancy, or pension benefits.
According to recent Croydon council documents, interim director positions with day rates between £850 and £900 cost around £189,000 for ten months. If the position is already financed, this amount can be barely covered by current budgets.
With a history of significant overspending and operating under “essential spend only” regulations, Croydon is under a lot of financial strain. The council’s financial stability is further strained by high interim costs.