Mystery surrounds £200,000 pay-off to ex-CEO by Lutfur Rahman’s Tower Hamlets council
The former boss of Tower Hamlets council – who left his role just months after the return of convicted electoral fraudster Lutfur Rahman – received a more than £200,000 pay-off on his departure, new figures can reveal.
Will Tuckley reportedly left the east London top job in March 2023 “by mutual agreement”, according to a council Freedom of Information (FoI) request published later that year.
But the bigwig, who was then the longest-serving chief executive in London, received a whopping £217,844 payment as “compensation for loss of office”.
This was on top of his £200,862 salary for 2022-23, and in addition to £28,668 in accrued annual leave and £36,768 in pension contributions – giving him a total remuneration of £484,142, according to Tower Hamlets’ draft 2022-23 statement of accounts.
The news comes weeks after it emerged government inspectors were deployed to probe issues including value for money and top appointments at Tower Hamlets, as per the BBC.
Inspectors are set to report their findings by the end of May on standards of “effective and convenient local government”, after officials became concerned about executive churn.
Writing to the council, a Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) official warned there was a risk of “replicating the circumstances” which saw Rahman’s exit in 2015, when he was found by an electoral court to have both personally and via his agents engaged in a string of election offences.
Judge Richard Mawrey said at the time that Rahman “was an evasive witness – Rahman was no doubt behind illegal and corrupt practices.”
Rahman was reelected as mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2022, after standing for the Aspire Party. He previously served as the Labour council leader but was removed as their mayoral candidate in 2010 – following allegations of corruption – and won as an independent.
He was reelected in 2014 but subsequently removed from office after the election tribunal declared the election void and barred him, temporarily, from seeking electoral office.
Tuckley, who was the sixth highest UK council earner when he ran Bexley Council, earning almost £260,000, then worked as interim city council boss in Brighton and Hove, and is set to join Slough Borough Council within weeks as their interim chief executive.
‘Top brass pay’
Tuckley’s pay came to light amid research by the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) dubbed the ‘town hall rich list’ which found 3,106 council officials were paid more than £100,000 in 2022-23 – the highest figure since 2015, and the second highest on record.
This included a record high 829 council staff in England and Wales getting over £150,000 in 2022-23 – while millions of households are set to see their council tax bills rise even further, amid warnings of boroughs facing “extreme financial pressures” and “toughest decisions”.
A total of 175 received over £200,000, while Westminster council topped the ranking with the most employees – 60 – on more than £100,000 in total remuneration, ten more than last year.
John O’Connell, TPA chief executive, said: “The new financial year has seen council tax soar across the country, and taxpayers will notice that top brass pay has simultaneously surged.
“Local authorities provide crucial services and residents will want to make sure they are getting bang for their buck with their ever-increasing bills.
“Residents can use these figures to ask whether precious funds are really going towards frontline services, or whether town hall bosses can get better value for money.”
Tower Hamlets council were approached for comment, including on the question of how this represented value for money.
A spokesperson directed CityAM to the press release announcing Tuckley would be leaving the council, which did not address the £217,000 payment.
Tuckley said at the time: “I am proud of what we have achieved in Tower Hamlets, building more homes and creating more jobs than anywhere else in the country.”
And Rahman commented: “I would like to thank Will for his seven years of service to the council and to the residents of Tower Hamlets. I wish him every success in his future endeavours.”