Glasgow council is hiring a KC to investigate exit packages for former senior staff worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Scrutiny of the early retirement deals will take place amid an angry backlash over the local authority plan to axe 450 teaching posts.
A top lawyer will be drafted in after concerns were raised by SNP council leader Susan Aitken, city treasurer Ricky Bell and Glasgow Labour chief George Redmond.
Redmond said: “Full disclosure is a must.”
Glasgow council, which has been run by the SNP for a decade, has made big cuts in recent years to plug budget black holes.
Signature buildings like the city chambers were sold off to other parts of the council, waves of redundancies have been pushed through and services cut.
But despite the huge pressure on the city finances, the council’s 2023/24 accounts show two senior staff were given six figure early retirement packages.
Annemarie O’Donnell, the former council chief executive who retired this year, received a £357,845 “in year” contribution to her pension.
Elaine Galletly, former Director of Legal and Administration, received a £223,065 pension contribution and £59,971 for “compensation for loss of office”.
It is understood the council’s focus relates to early retirement packages for four people, not just O’Donnell and Galletly.
A briefing by current chief executive Susanne Miller outlines the concerns over the deals.
She wrote that the council had received requests for information about loss of office payments and in-year pension contributions.
Miller continued: “Concerns regarding these payments have also been raised with me by the Leader of the Council and the Treasurer who were unaware of these payments until the publication of the 2023/2024 Annual Account Remuneration Report.”
Miller wrote that senior officials had carried out an internal review into the approval process for the payments made to the former staff.
She added: “On their recommendation, I am now instructing a third party independence review by senior legal counsel of the full circumstances leading to the approval of these payments.”
A council source said Aitken and Bell held a meeting with Miller in September on the issue:
“Councillors do not see or take decisions on senior officers leaving early. There will have to be changes. The leader wants the rules to be tightened.”
Redmond said: “Glasgow’s financial position is clear to everyone – it’s in a dire situation. Financial mismanagement by the SNP at every level of government has led to this. The reasons for these massive payments and the calculations of them is not clear at all.
“We need to understand what political oversight there was on this, who authorised these payments and who gave the go-ahead.
“Public money needs to be accountable to the people of Glasgow – there needs to be some light in the black hole here – people need to – and deserve to – know the truth.”
John Slaven, organiser for the GMB trade union on the council, said:
“The people of Glasgow will be rightly appalled and will stay appalled until they know exactly what has happened here, who has benefited and what will be done about it.”
Glasgow MSP Annie Wells said: “Hard-pressed Glaswegians will be appalled at these significant payments.”
A spokesperson for GCC said: “GCC has never had a process whereby enhanced terms for individual senior officers are approved by councillors, and therefore it was not approved by the Leader or any member of the administration.
“The Leader has instructed the chief executive to put in place a new process to ensure that councillors are at the very least consulted in advance of any such service reform and have a role in approving them. She has also instructed the chief executive to look into whether our existing approval processes have been properly followed.
“The chief executive has alerted the council’s external auditors and is engaging a KC to carry out a review of the full circumstances leading to the approval of these payments.”
The council reported earlier this year that a £107m funding gap would have to be closed over three years.
One of the ways the council is trying to cut costs is getting rid of 450 teacher posts in the city.
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