It’s come to light that the current Chief Executive of the Isle of Wight council, Steve Beynon, wrote an email to all elected members of the council last night.
Sent at 18:23, many are saying that it’s hard to see it as anything but a reaction to the Private Eye article about Dave Burbage Ltd.
In the not-insubstantial text, he says he provides “clarification” and explains the “advantage” of Dave working this way.
The full email is after the jump.
I am writing to provide clarification on the report in last week’s County Press regarding the cost of employing Dave Burbage. We did provide all of this information to the County Press but for some reason they chose not to use it. I therefore believe it appropriate to offer a full explanation to members thereby clarifying the situation. The report states that his salary is £153k a year compared with Southampton £130,714 and Portsmouth band of £109,430 – £129,784.
The budget for the Strategic Director of Resources in 2010/11 is £167,797 which comprises salary £125,982; employer pension contribution of £27,716 and employer’s national insurance of £14,099 (Southampton comparison figure would be £170k and Portsmouth £142k). The contract agreed with Dave Burbage was such that it did not exceed this budget figure. In addition in August 2010 Dave voluntarily chose to reduce the charge (in light of the financial position) to the council by some £10,000 which in effect the comparable salary is now £115,982 which when compared with the Southampton and Portsmouth figure is modest.
Originally Dave was recruited under the previous Chief Executive on a 5 month contract through a recruitment agency which would have meant that the council paid an agency fee and expenses on top of this. At the end of this period Dave was then appointed, after a contract tendering process, through his company Dave Burbage Consulting Ltd (the company has one shareholder and one employee i.e. Dave Burbage). This provides the advantage of avoiding an agency fee and expenses through a fully inclusive rate. This contract has subsequently been extended through a further procurement exercise. It is my intention to maintain this position before moving to a permanent appointment in the future when we have worked through the current budget pressures provided Dave remains comfortable to work with us (as of course he could chose to leave us at any time and at short notice).
Interim managers that are not directly employed by an authority are normally obliged to set themselves up as limited companies for insurance liability, employment rights and HMRC purposes. This is standard within the industry and we have employed persons at senior level in the past in this way (currently this is the basis on which Roger Edwardson and George Hook are employed – George is due to end his contract in the summer of 2011 and Roger at the end of 2012).
The advantage to any council of this approach is that when we need someone at a senior level who has particular experience and skills which are needed for a short – medium term we are able to appoint without the attendant liabilities associated with employing someone on a permanent contract such as pension, employers’ NI, sickness, professional indemnity and no termination costs (e.g. redundancy).
Decisions about senior appointments, whether permanent or on a contact basis are subject to approval by the Employment Committee.
I trust you will find the above helpful and a clarification of the situation.
