Mystery beneficiary of £151,000 LGSS exit package

The request was partially successful.

Dear Cambridgeshire County Council,

Background

Page 33 of LGSS’ audited financial statements for 2016/17 (https://www.lgss.co.uk/statement-of-acco...) discloses termination benefits, including for two individuals who received exit packages worth £151,000 and £260,000. The larger amount was for Christine Reed, the former LGSS Director of People, Transformation and Transactional Services. The £260,000 reconciles with the table on page 30 of the financial statements (£51k + £209k), even though it was an entirely false and misleading statement to claim that Ms Reed’s “redundancy” led to her “early retirement”. Ms Reed in fact entered into a commercial consultancy contract with LGSS on the same day (30th September 2016) as her fraudulent “redundancy”, and by the time the annual report was published (June 2017) she had already been working as a contractor at LGSS for nine months – doing the same work she had been doing as an employee, but at a fee that rose to £750/day after an initial period at £650/day. The LGSS Director of Finance at the time (Matt Bowmer) would of course have known this, as would the auditor - Andrew Cardoza of KPMG.

The beneficiary of the £151,000 exit package is a mystery. The breakdown consisting of £13k compensation for loss of office plus £138k contribution to the local government pension scheme (i.e. pension strain) is shown in note 2 on page 32 of the financial statements. However, unlike Ms Reed’s figures, the £151k package does not reconcile with any of the senior employees’ remuneration figures shown on page 30. Indeed, the table on page 30 shows only one senior employee leaving LGSS in 2016/17 (Christine Reed). There would appear to be two possible explanations:

1) Despite the size of the exit package, the beneficiary of the £151k did not meet the “senior employee” criteria for disclosure as defined in Schedule 1, section 3 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, or
2) The individual was a “senior employee” under that definition, but for whatever reason his/her details, (including job title) were omitted from the table on page 30 of the annual report.

FOI requests:

Q1) What was the exact departure date in 2016 or 2017 of the unidentified employee who received the £151k exit package, and which of the LGSS-related authorities employed him/her before the termination?
Q2) Was his/her redundancy part of the same planned restructuring of LGSS to meet the new target operating model? If not, what was the reason for the redundancy/departure?
Q3) If the unidentified employee was a senior employee under the 2015 Regulations’ definition, what was his/her job title at the time of departure?
Q4) Has the unidentified employee been re-engaged at any LGSS-related authority or LGSS Law Ltd either as an employee, director or contractor since his/her departure in 2016/17? If so, please provide details.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Rowson

FOI, Cambridgeshire County Council

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FOI, Cambridgeshire County Council

Dear Andrew

Re: Freedom of Information Request ref 1260491

Thank you for your email. Your request will be dealt with in line with the Freedom of Information Act and its regulations. In accordance with the Act, the Council aims to respond to all requests within 20 working days, in this instance by 29th January 2020.

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Tel: 01223 699137
Box No. OCT1224, Cambridgeshire County Council, Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3 0AP

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FOI, Cambridgeshire County Council

Dear Andrew Rowson

 

Re: Freedom of Information Request ref: 1260491

 

I write with reference to your e-mail of 31/12/2019 regarding beneficiary
of LGSS exit package.

 

We have considered your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please find our response attached.

 

I hope this information is helpful but if you are unhappy with the service
you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint
or request a review, you should write to Information Management, at either
[1][Cambridgeshire County Council request email] or by post at Box No. OCT1224, Shire Hall,
Cambridge CB3 0AP within 40 days of the date of this e-mail.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF, or via their website: [2]https://ico.org.uk/.

 

Generally, the ICO will not undertake a review or make a decision on a
request until the internal review process has been completed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Jessie Holder – Information Management Analyst

Business Intelligence Team – Information and Records

Tel. 01223 699137, Email: [3][Cambridgeshire County Council request email]

Box No. OCT1224, Cambridgeshire County Council, Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3
0AP

 

 

 

The information in this email could be confidential and legally
privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee and they will decide
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by mistake please notify the sender and delete it immediately. Opinions
expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent the
opinion of Cambridgeshire County Council. All sent and received email from
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computer viruses and security issues. Any personal data will be processed
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Holder Jessie, Cambridgeshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Andrew Rowson

 

Re: Freedom of Information Request ref: 1260491

 

I write with reference to your e-mail of 31/12/2019 regarding beneficiary
of LGSS exit package.

 

We have considered your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please find our response attached.

 

I hope this information is helpful but if you are unhappy with the service
you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint
or request a review, you should write to Information Management, at either
[1][Cambridgeshire County Council request email] or by post at Box No. OCT1224, Shire Hall,
Cambridge CB3 0AP within 40 days of the date of this e-mail.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF, or via their website: [2]https://ico.org.uk/.

 

Generally, the ICO will not undertake a review or make a decision on a
request until the internal review process has been completed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Jessie Holder – Information Management Analyst

Business Intelligence Team – Information and Records

Tel. 01223 699137, Email: [3][Cambridgeshire County Council request email]

Box No. OCT1224, Cambridgeshire County Council, Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3
0AP

 

 

 

The information in this email could be confidential and legally
privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee and they will decide
who to share this email with (if appropriate). If you receive this email
by mistake please notify the sender and delete it immediately. Opinions
expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent the
opinion of Cambridgeshire County Council. All sent and received email from
Cambridgeshire County Council is automatically scanned for the presence of
computer viruses and security issues. Any personal data will be processed
in line with the Data Protection legislation, further details at
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/privacy Visit [4]www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Cambridgeshire County Council request email]
2. https://ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[Cambridgeshire County Council request email]
4. http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/