Cheshire East Council has appointed a new finance boss on an annual salary of £142,951.
Ashley Hughes has become the council’s executive director of resources, chief finance and S151 officer.
He will take over from interim head of finance Adele Taylor who was appointed on a temporary basis in June of last year on a daily rate of £1,100.
As part of that interim employment agreement, the council had to stump up an extra £198 a day for the recruitment agency plus, what it described as, ‘other role costs including pension, apprenticeship levy and other transaction fees’.
The new permanent appointment will mean a saving to Cheshire East on this one salary alone.
Eight candidates had applied for the job.
Mr Hughes has been director of resources and S151 at Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council since April 2023.
Between 2020 and 2023, he was the assistant director of finance and deputy S151 officer at the London Borough of Barnet.
Rob Polkinghorne, chief executive of Cheshire East Council, said: “I am delighted to welcome Ashley to Cheshire East Council in this key leadership role.
“Ensuring we have the right senior management capacity and capabilities, with the right people, in the right places, is a key part of our work to transform and improve our organisation.
“I look forward to working with Ashley to establish financial sustainability for the council by improving efficiency, reducing costs and enhancing service delivery – and really focus on our customers, residents and workforce.
“I’d like to thank the appointments committee and everyone who has supported the senior management recruitment campaign, including councillors, partners and council staff.”
Mr Hughes said: “I am excited to join Cheshire East Council at this time of change and improvement.
“The borough has huge potential and we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the organisation.
“I look forward to working with councillors, council staff, partners, communities and businesses to make a real difference for the borough and establish a financially sustainable and resident-focused organisation.”
f you look at this guys employment record he has moved about a lot, and not stopped anywhere long enough to make a difference, Another of these so called Directors of this that and the other who make a very lucrative career of frquently moving from one Authority to another. I wonder how long he will last at CEC, how effectove (or not!) he will be, and what financial mess he leaves in his wake. I’ll give it two years at most, and he’ll be off!
Mark H
Well said. The salary is fair given his responsibilities. A similar role in the private sector would pay many times that and for not necessarily the same level of responsibilities.
The Job Title/Description sounds impressive but can someone please outline in detail exactly what the new guy actually DOES in the course of his typical working week to earn/justify such a hefty salary?….
But labour cec doesn’t care how much they pay as it’s only toy money to them.
Disgusting to pay him this salary when the council is in deep debt
spending our money this way is outrageous
So xxxxx would you rather have someone unqualified do the job for £40,000? Would that be better value? This is the market rate for this type of role – if other businesses pay that then CE needs to. We surely want to try to attract the best people if the mess CE is in is going to be sorted out. He’s not working the checkout at B&M – he’s going to be running a £350m budget.
Suppose that’s a saving of the over 400000 the last one was getting paid (1100) per day,but still an outrageous amount of money at a time when the council is effectively bankrupt.