Tuesday 5 March 2013

Brent's Chief Exec being paid through private company rather than payroll


 The Local Government Chronicle, following a Freedom of Information request,  has established that Christine Gilbert, Brent's Interim Chief Executive, is being paid via her private company rather than Brent Payroll. LINK

Christine Gilbert Associates will be paid £100,000 for 6 month's work.

Pressure on the BBC over similar arrangements for their staff led to a change of policy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So, Brent's Chief Executive (and Head of the Paid Service) is actually a consultant! It would be interesting to know what are the actual terms of her contract (for example, was the £100,000 for six months paid "up front"?).

Although Brent's constitution (Article 13) says that Brent will "engage" its Chief Officers, not that it will "employ" them, how can Brent Council control the actions of a private company, which is what it must actually have its contract for Christine Gilbert's services with?

It reminds me of a tax avoidance case I heard about in the 1980's, where the Inland Revenue were able to overturn the scheme in order to charge Nottingham Forest PAYE and NIC on the money it paid to a company for the services of a top international footballer. The clinching argument was 'can you imagine Brian Clough on the touchline, shouting instructions to a company?'