£128,000 redundancy deal for top executives

102 top executives at Glasgow Council are set to receive an average payout of £128,000 each as part of Glasgow’s £127 million redundancy deal.

Internal figures revealed by the SNP show Glasgow Labour bosses are paying out millions to top execs  in redundancy and early retirement at the same time as they are calling for higher council tax payments across the city.

Numbers revealed in internal council papers show £13 million of redundancy pay offs going to Executives as the Labour Council cuts services while using a one off property windfall to fund redundancies.

A third of Glasgow’s most senior staff have applied to leave the City Council.

The SNP has criticised the council’s approach saying the attitude that anyone who wants a redundancy and retirement package is almost guaranteed to get it has led to an increased bill and called on the council to look at other ways of reducing the bill and putting more of the £127 million into protecting public services.

The SNP opposition leader on Glasgow City Council James Dornan said: "Paying out this kind of money whilst threatening to push up pensioners council tax and cut services is obscene.

"£128,000 on average for senior executives – all of whom are nearing retirement is an incredible pay out that tax payers will seriously struggle to understand.

"So far Glasgow’s Labour leader has called for a council tax rise, a possible end to free personal care, increased fees for school breakfasts and scrapped free fruit schemes for the city’s children. £127 million could make a lot of difference to these programmes easing the way into what will be a tight budget settlement for the next three years.

"We all accept the need to reduce the councils cost including work force costs but when Labour pushed this through they failed to answer the key questions of how many people they expected to take up the offer and what the bill would be. This level of pay out changes the whole picture and brings the benefits of this Labour plan into question.

"The council has a multi-million pound property windfall that could be used to minimise the impact of Labour and Tory spending cuts, instead it is being used to line the pockets of senior council staff. Glasgow’s Council Tax payers will be outraged."