£17,000: the average cost of recruiting a Director General

Wednesday 20 February 2019

The Government spent over £142,200 on recruiting eight Director Generals - an average of £17,786 per appointment.

The costs for the period between September 2017 and January 2019 include external head-hunters and recruitment agencies fees, candidate interviews and assessments as well as advertising costs.

The information, which was revealed under the Freedom of Information Law, showed that the Health and Community Services Department spent the largest amount, £41,300.10, on the recruitment of Caroline Landon. Ms Landon, who was previously a Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive with Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, took up her post in the new year after the Health Department spent nearly £19,000 on recruitment and headhunting. 

Ms Landon’s appointment was also the most expensive in terms of candidate assessments (£8,860), interviews (£7,500) and advertising costs (£5,990).

Pictured: The breakdown of the total costs for recruiting eight Director Generals.

The figures show that the recruitment of Chief Operating Officer, John Quinn, and Director General for Children, Young People, Education and Skills, Mark Rogers, were the second and third most expensive with costs amounting to £29,194 and £27,342 respectively, despite the latter having already been appointed on an interim basis.

For both, £14,500 was spent on recruitment and headhunting, while candidate assessments cost a combined total of £14,340. 

It was revealed earlier this year, through an Express FOI request, that the Government CEO, Charlie Parker, had previously worked with John Quinn at Westminster City Council.

The recruitment of a DG for Customer & Local Services; Policy, Performance & Population and Treasury & Exchequer – roles which went to Ian Burns, Tom Walker and Richard Bell, who were all in the civil service already – cost £650 in candidate assessments each.

Pictured: The recruitments of Julian Blazeby and John Rogers amounted to over £42,500.

More surprisingly, it appears the Government spent over £42,500 on the recruitment of a two Director Generals - for Growth, Housing & Island Environment and Justice and Home Affairs – but ended up appointing someone close to home: John Rogers, the former Chief Officer for Infrastructure, and Julian Blazeby, who had been the Acting Chief of Police since July 2017.

Before appointing Mr Rogers, the Government spent £14,500 on recruitment and headhunting fees, as well as an additional £1,300 on candidate assessments. No costs related to advertising or candidate interviews were incurred.

£14,500 was also spent on recruitment fees ahead of Mr Blazeby’s appointment, in addition to £7,450 on candidate assessments, £1,256 on candidate interviews and £3,500 on advertising costs.