Big pay off for States chief to go early

Friday 20 October 2017

Jersey's senior civil servant is to leave his post six months early with a severance package believed to total in the region of £230,000. It marks a sudden, major power shift at the top of the island's civil service, coming at the same time as the employment of four new senior recruits to revamp the Chief Minister's Department.

John Richardson is said to have asked to leave early, to avoid any "confusion" caused by overlapping with the incoming Chief Executive Charlie Parker. Mr Richardson will leave the States on the 2 November this year after 35 years service - originally, it was planned he would exit next May.

Mr Parker has already been putting together what's described as a "specialist transition team," made up of four very senior external appointments, and some from within the current States workforce, who will effectively be seconded to the Chief Minister's Department to help drive through the major changes he wants to make. 

Those four are all on short term contracts, and have come over from the UK on the equivalent of Chief Officer pay, receiving up to £1,350 for each day they work, in addition to flight and accommodation costs.

They will be in post until at least next March, with a potential extension until June. 

The four are made up of a new Chief Operating Officer, Anna Daroy, and a new Director of Communications, Stephen Hardwick, who have both already started in their roles.

An 'organisational transformation consultant' Jacquie McGeachie, and a 'strategic finance review consultant' Camilla Black, will both also start shortly. All appointments were approved by the Jersey Appointments Commission. 

Mr Parker is also planning to be in Jersey frequently to oversee that team, ahead of his official start date of the 8th January - he won't be paid for his work before that date, but will be taking control "on a phased basis" from November.  In the interim, States Treasurer, Richard Bell, will step in to take over the official responsibilities of the States Chief Executive. 

John Richardson is said to have voluntarily suggested leaving the States early, to bring to an end a long career in public service.

He was previously the Chief Officer of the Transport and Technical Services Department, before taking over as Chief Executive of the States in 2012, having already been in that role for a year on an interim basis, following the departure of Bill Ogley. Mr Ogley left in 2011 with a pay off of around £550,000.

According to the States 2016 accounts Mr Richardson's salary was up to £210,000 a year, with total renumeration up to £239,000, and a States pension pot of at least £3million (as at end of 2016) - making him the fourth most highly remunerated States employee. 

It's been confirmed that he leaves the States with the rest of his contract (6 months) being paid up front, and a further, so far unspecified, contractual amount on top of that in lieu of his long service.

Pictured: John Richardson, and the Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst.

Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, said: “John Richardson has served the island of Jersey with distinction over 35 years, and on behalf of the government and the people of Jersey, I want to thank him for his dedication to public service and wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement.”

Mr Richardson said: “I am immensely proud of what we have achieved over the past six years and I know the organisation is much stronger now and has adapted to the many challenges we have all faced together. The modernisation programme is well established and provides the base from which the new team will be able to develop the public sector further, to ensure it continues to provide high-quality and efficient public services.”

The four new people who now sit close to the top of the Island's public sector are described by the States as:

"Anna Daroy was Executive Director at Highways England, COO and Board member for the UK Office of Fair Trading, and an advisor to UK Government Departments and regulators, including Transport, Homeland infrastructure Security and policing. Over 30 years, Anna has led the transformation of the UK consumer energy and telecoms industries and has led multi-million operations internationally as MD for IBM EMEA, consulting partner for EY and Vice President for Mercer Consulting Europe." 

"Stephen Hardwick was Director of Corporate Communications for HM Revenue and Customs from September 2011 to May 2017. He was previously a communications and public affairs consultant, Director of Group Public Affairs (among other senior roles) for airports group BAA plc, and a political adviser to the government of South Africa and to the Deputy Leader of the UK Labour Party. https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenhardwick/"

"Jacquie McGeachie is a senior Human Resources consultant, with extensive experience of working in local government and business. Since 2005 she has held interim HR Director roles at Peterborough City Council, the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, and at Bristol City Council. She previously worked in a range of senior HR roles for Tesco, in a company career spanning 21 years. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquie-mcgeachie-bb86b5122"

"Camilla Black is a Chief Finance Officer and Commercial Director, with extensive experience in the public and private sectors. Since 2013 she has held interim roles at the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and at HM Land Registry. Prior to this, Camilla was Director of Commercial Relationships at UK Cabinet Office and held director roles in other UK Government Departments. Camilla has led significant transformation in a career spanning more than 30 years, including as Finance Director with the BOC Group. https://www.linkedin.com/in/camilla-black-87260429/."