• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

News and entertainment worth sharing – York and North Yorkshire

  • News
  • Radio
  • Vouchers
  • WIN
  • More
    • Tickets
    • Lifestyle
    • Advertise
    • About
    • Contact

Council appoints internal candidate for £145K top job – without interviewing anyone else

Mon 26 Oct

City of York Council's West Offices. Photograph: YorkMix

Mon 26 Oct 2020  @ 6:20pm
Chloe Laversuch - Local Democracy Reporter
Politics

The council is to appoint a new chief on a salary of more than £145,000 a year – who was the only candidate for the job.

Councillors have been asked to approve the appointment of Ian Floyd to the newly created role of chief operating officer.

Mr Floyd has worked at City of York Council for more than a decade and has been acting as temporary chief executive, following the departure of former chief executive Mary Weastell after the local elections in 2019.

He was the only candidate interviewed, according to a council report. It warns councillors that if they do not approve him for the job, the council will “expose itself to legal challenge” and significant costs.

Mr Floyd was interviewed for the job on 1 October by Liberal Democrat councillors Nigel Ayre and Paula Widdowson and Green Party councillor Denise Craghill.

Labour councillor Danny Myers was also due to be on the panel but refused – saying he felt more candidates should be considered for the job.

Related stories

He told the council: “The confirmation of a single internal candidate means that I (and the Labour group) cannot participate in the appointments process for chief operating officer.

“I have stated at every opportunity the need to have a recruitment process that includes external and internal for this position, and therefore I cannot join the panel this week.”

But trade unions GMB and Unison took part in the interview process, with a spokesperson for each union saying they felt “confident” the correct procedures have been followed.

‘Significant strengths’

Ian Floyd of City of York Council

Councillors will be asked to agree the decision at a full council meeting on Thursday.

Ms Weastell took early retirement in March, with a £400,000 settlement from the council, after being signed off sick since last summer.

It has since emerged that Ms Weastell was taking City of York Council and the council leader, Cllr Keith Aspden, to an employment tribunal.

But that she dropped the case after the six-figure payout was agreed.

The council is now looking to save £81,000 a year, according to reports, which say changing the structure of its senior management team and appointing a chief operating officer rather than a chief executive will lead to savings of £95,000.

“The [interview] panel recommend the appointment of Ian Floyd,” a report for Thursday’s meeting says.

“Following discussion they concluded [he is] ‘Highly suitable, with significant strengths and appointable to the position of chief operating officer.’

“The council will be exposed to legal challenge should there be a decision not to approve the appointment.

“These could include a claim of unfair redundancy selection and / or constructive dismissal. This would result in additional costs to the authority through any claim along with a redundancy payment circa £60,000.”


Trending »


Primary Sidebar

Footer

Contact us

General
01904 375 029

Studio/competitions
01904 375 030

Email YorkMix »

5-6 King's Court
Shambles
York  YO1 7LD

Listen to us

You can listen to YorkMix Radio using your DAB+ radio, Alexa or Google smart speaker, or online using the links below.

Click here to listen to YorkMix Radio »

Download the app from Google Play store
Download the app from Apple App store
About us

YorkMix is a trading name of
York Sound Ltd

Registered in England
Company no: 12831940
VAT no: GB289462452

YorkMix Radio public file

  • About
  • Public file
  • Privacy policy
  • Corrections & complaints
  • Contact

Copyright © 2025 YorkMix