Former North Lanarkshire Council executive receives £450,000 pay off

A former North Lanarkshire Council executive received more than £450,000 as a redundancy package during a management reshuffle.

Janice Hewitt, former assistant chief executive, took voluntary redundancy from North Lanarkshire Council while on secondment to the Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board, which is a partnership organisation between NHS Lanarkshire and the council, and serving as its chief officer.

Ms Hewitt received £450,802 compensation for loss of office – more than treble her salary.

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However, a council spokeswoman said three quarters of this money went to the pension fund with the remainder being allocated in a one-off lump sum in line with council policy as well as a  statutory redundancy payment.

The framework for redundancy payments are arrived at via discussions between COSLA, the Scottish Government and trade unions.

The council spokeswoman added said: “Senior level restructures have delivered £413,000 savings each year.

“The remuneration package was calculated in line with the council’s procedures. Employees being made redundant are entitled to a contractual redundancy payment and to access their pension entitlement in accordance with the pension regulations.

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“In addition, the council’s own rules state that restructure costs must be paid back within three years. In this case the payback period is two years. So, from 2021 this is a saving of £132,301 each and every year.”

Neil McGrory - Local Democracy Reporting Service