Council set to advertise £149K-a-year position
Richard Evans – Local democracy reporter
A council is set to begin its search for a new £148K-a-year chief executive – a process costing around £10,000.
The move by Denbighshire Council follows the current chief executive Graham Boase announcing last week that he will retire early next year.
The recruitment process is set to launch next week with the successful candidate earning up to nearly £149,000 a year.
The post includes a salary with three incremental points of £148,822, £146,620, and £144,452, with the council paying relocation costs of up to £8,000, plus a local government pension scheme.
Meeting
A report will go before councillors at a full council meeting at Ruthin County Hall HQ on Tuesday (8 July), confirming the current chief executive will retire at the end of January 2026, after more than four years in the role.
Councillors will be tasked with signing off the recruitment process, including the salary package, as well as a six-week advertising campaign to attract candidates.
A “politically balanced” “special appointments panel” of seven members – chaired by the council leader – will be formed to shortlist and assess candidates, supported by HR and senior officers.
Interviews for the job will be held by the full council on 26 September.
Assessment
The council has decided against using expensive external consultants, as they have done in the past, and is instead opting to manage the recruitment through its HR manager, with some external assessment.
The job advert will go live on July 21 with a September 1 closing date, with a new appointment expected to be made by the end of September.
But the cost of recruiting the top position is still expected to be around £10,000.
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Why does a chief executive need to be paid almost £3,000 a week. Can he/she do more in 40 hours than anyone else? Does their weekly shopping cost more than anyone else? Does fuel cost them more. A man/woman can only put the same input into a job than the person at the bottom of the tree. A job is a job. Councils all over the UK claim they are potless yet they can come up with six-figure salaries for the top of the tree. Personally, I don’t think they are worth more than the minimum wage. Every person, no… Read more »
“….The council has decided against using expensive external consultants, as they have done in the past, and is instead opting to manage the recruitment through its HR manager, with some external assessment…..”
Sensible decision especially as those over priced search consultants seem to be engaged in little more than shifting a chosen list of people around from job to job. A daisy chain of well connected people.