Seven years after former Chief Minister Ian Gorst pledged to put an end to the practice of ‘golden handshakes’ in the States it has emerged that the previous States chief executive, John Richardson, ex-Health chief officer Julie Garbutt and former Education head Justin Donovan were all paid huge lump sums when they left employment in 2017 and 2018.
A union leader has suggested that the large pay-outs were made to prevent the departing employees from making criticisms of how the States are being run.
The latest set of States accounts show:
- Mr Richardson, who left office on 6 November 2017, received £130,803 as a contractual entitlement on his departure.
- Mr Donovan, who resigned and left his office on 31 August 2018, was paid £102,805 as a contractual entitlement and also received £5,543 in lieu of holidays.
- Mrs Garbutt resigned from her post and left office on 3 July 2018, receiving a contractual entitlement of £93,820 and a further £93,820 in lieu of notice.
Following pressure from the JEP several years ago, it was revealed that ex-States chief executive Bill Ogley received a £546,337 pay-out after leaving his job in May 2011.
The next year Senator Gorst said that he was surprised at the amount that was paid to Mr Ogley and that he would not allow any similar ‘contractual agreements’ to be signed during his tenure as Chief Minister, which came to an end last year.
The news of the pay-outs could stir further discontent among public sector workers who are dissatisfied with their pay deals for 2018 and 2019, after receiving below-inflation wage increases.
Unions representing both teachers and civil servants are currently engaged in a mediation process with the States Employment Board over the long-running dispute.
Brendan Carolan, president of the National Education Union, said that he suspected the pay-outs were made to keep quiet departing employees, who may have been critical of how the States was being run.
‘There’s a real issue about honesty and about people being prepared to tell the truth about what’s going on in the public sector,’ he said.
‘This money represents perhaps a move to pay people off so that they leave quietly.’
A spokeswoman from the States Communications Unit said: ‘The named former employees left the organisation in 2018 following the appointment of the new chief executive and announcement of the new target Operating Model. The payments made to these employees were in accordance with their respective contracts and related to their redundancy entitlements under the States Redundancy Policy and contractual notice pay. The then Chief Minister was entirely accurate in his statement, which remains the case today.’
