Here’s a quick piece, part of a statement by IW Investigatory and Disciplinary Committee. We hope to follow it up tomorrow with more details.
In summary, the external person brought in to investigate this (Mr Dobson) found that Mr Wilkinson‘s conduct fell below the standard the Council might reasonably expect of its Director of Finance. In Mr Dobson’s view, Mr Wilkinson is guilty of ‘a serious error of judgement’ in failing to take any action to rectify the procurement issue, ensure there was a written contract in place or to notify elected members of the problems as soon as he became aware of them. Mr Dobson concluded that this ‘serious error of judgement’ amounted to misconduct. The Investigatory and Disciplinary Committee considers this as serious misconduct.
The Council must have utmost confidence in its Director of Finance and clearly cannot do so when his judgement and conduct are found to be wanting. The Committee views the DIP’s findings as grounds on which it ought properly to dismiss Mr Wilkinson.However, the DIP’s recommended action is that the Council impose a written warning. While the committee disagrees with this as being an inadequate response, it has little option but to act on that recommendation. It has therefore issued a written warning to Mr Wilkinson.
The Committee does not feel that it is in the Council’s interests for Mr Wilkinson to return to his job as Director of Finance in these circumstances. Whilst he is prepared to do so, Mr Wilkinson has instead agreed to retire from the Council with immediate effect, if his pension rights are released.
The Committee has considered this situation very carefully, weighing the cost of agreeing to this against the need for the organisation to have a strong and effective Director of Finance in whom it has the utmost confidence. The Committee has received legal advice that it is able to challenge the DIP’s decision by way of a Judicial Review in the High Court in London, but that action would itself be expensive and would delay matters considerably, during which time we would be obliged to pay Mr Wilkinson his full salary in any event.
Whilst the committee considers that Mr Wilkinson might, in these circumstances recognise that the appropriate action was to resign, we cannot oblige him to do so and having taken all the factors into account, the committee has reluctantly agreed to accept the early retirement.
Mr Wilkinson’s employment will therefore terminate forthwith. He will be paid in lieu of notice (£21,955) and statutory entitlements to accrued holiday (£4715.92), as we must by law. The cost of allowing him to access his pension early is (£59,146.31).
We emphasis that there has been no enhancement, ‘added years’ or any other payment or benefit conferred on Mr Wilkinson and he leaves with the minimum entitlement allowed by law. We have taken the unusual step of publishing the DIP Report and the advice to the committee from officers because of Mr Wilkinson’s statutory role and the legal protections that have constrained our action. Given the public interest in this process and in the spirit of openness and accountability we have made clear the costs involved in the decisions we have taken.
Committee will now go on to consider other individual cases relating to Mr Matthews (10 -12th October) and Mr Lawson (29th October).
Disciplinary hearings for more junior officers will take place before Senior Directors of the Council in accordance with the appropriate disciplinary policies, by the end of October. The Council anticipates publishing a final report by the end of November.
Mr Derek Rowell, Strategic Director for Economic Development and Regeneration has been signed off sick for a considerable period of time and is judged by our Occupational Health Advisers to be too ill to participate properly in a disciplinary hearing. Rather than continue to pay him a full salary for an indeterminate period (as he is entitled to by law) the Committee has agreed to accept his notice of resignation with effect from 31st August. He has been paid in lieu of the remaining notice (£21,834.24) but no other payment or benefit has been conferred on him.
The Committee wishes to make it clear that IW Council expects the highest standards of conduct and probity from all its officers and members. We will continue to work to raise the level of performance and the standards of conduct from everyone serving the public on the Island.
Cllr George Brown, Chairman of the IDC and Deputy Leader of the Council, said, “These actions will allow us to continue to build a senior management team in which we and the Island community can have trust and confidence. I would stress that neither Mr Rowell nor Mr Wilkinson leave this authority with any enhanced payments. We hope that by releasing the full DIP report, the public can see just how seriously below standard the performance of Mr Wilkinson fell and why it would not be appropriate to allow his return to work.”
“This inquiry is ongoing. As this authority continues to put the findings into the public domain as promised, I am sure the full magnitude of what has unfolded in respect of the Undercliff Drive project will become abundantly clear and the procedures we have followed whilst lengthy and by their nature expensive will be well justified. To ignore serious issues and sweep them under the carpet is an approach we reject and would be entirely unacceptable to the values of accountability and transparency that this council upholds.”
