Star date: 14th August 2014

FAT CAT REVOLVING DOOR ADVICE COST COUNCIL £6000

Cash-strapped Salford Council paid £6,109 to a consultant to advise on senior management changes during the period when Chief Executive Barbara Spicer left her post and Jim Taylor arrived in the similar role as Head of Paid Services.

Spicer got a £93,000 pay off, while her deputy, Strategic Director Martin Vickers, also left and walked almost straight into a job at Salford City Reds with a £78,817 pay-off from the Council. The Salford Star understands that an auditor's report on the Vickers affair will be published shortly.

Full details here…

Salford Council paid £6,109 to Publicola Ltd for advice on `senior management arrangements' and the creation of the controversial £150,000 post of Head of Paid Services, subsequently taken by former Rochdale Chief Executive Jim Taylor, newly released finance figures show.

Months of turmoil at the top of Salford Council saw £170,000 Chief Executive, Barbara Spicer, leave the Council with a £93,000 pay-off - and Strategic Director Martin Vickers leave with a £78,817 pay-off, weeks before walking into a top job with Salford City Reds, now called Salford Red Devils (for full details see previous Salford Star article – click here).

The Salford Star understands that an auditor's report into the Vickers affair is to be published shortly, and it is hoped that it contains details of an alleged Council loan to the former Strategic Director*.

Publicola Ltd is the consultancy company of Barry Quirk, part-time Chief Executive of Lewisham Council, who told the Salford Star this morning of his dealings with Salford Council…

"I advised them on their senior management arrangements (using best practice from across the UK and elsewhere) and subsequently advised on the appointment of their City Director [Head of Paid Services]…I found them to be reasonable and reasoned in their approach and very receptive to external suggestions for change."

Barry Quirk specializes in things like `organizational effectiveness' and `public policy analysis' – but his `core idea' is how to bridge the gap between `economic deficit', `democratic deficit' and `trust deficit'...

Perhaps Salford Council's £6,109 might have been better spent getting Publicola Ltd to do a few workshops on this topic with Salford Mayor Ian Stewart…

• The Salford Star emailed Martin Vickers asking for his response to the loan allegations but so far he has failed to respond. The Salford Star has also put in a Freedom of Information request to Salford Council about the alleged loan, details of which, we believe, is in the public interest.

• See also previous Salford Star article – Salford Council Takes On Fat Cat Rochdale Reject – click here