by Bill Heaney
Almost £63 million has been wasted by councils on ‘golden goodbyes’ for high-earning employees since 2022, Scottish Conservative research has revealed.
And West Dunbartonshire Council has been responsible for a large chunk of that.
The annual accounts of councils reveal how much has been spent on exit packages for outgoing employees, with the amount spent on packages worth over £100k increasing from £12.6 million in 2022-23 to £21.9 million in 2024-25, with a combined total of £62.6 million being spent over that period.
North Lanarkshire spent the most of any council (£15.4 million), followed by Glasgow with a £11.3 million spend and Renfrewshire, who spent £7.9 million.
Scottish Conservative shadow finance and local government secretary Craig Hoy MSP said: “Hard-working Scots who’ve been hammered by rising council taxes will be furious that councils have shelled out millions on golden goodbyes.
“Our local services are at breaking point, but instead of fixing the issues that actually matter, council bosses are allowing the bill for public-sector payouts to balloon.
“Taxpayers are sick of SNP- and Labour-run councils spending their money on the wrong priorities while our frontline services are on their knees.”
In West Dunbartonshire, golden parachutes and golden goodbyes have been familiar and have featured controversially in the new pages of The Dumbarton Democrat.
One of those who left with a substantial payment was the former Chief Executive Joyce ….. who vigorously defended other chief officers, who were linked with a fine dining with contractors scandal, also left the council under a cloud.
However, there appears to have been little or nothing done about that and regular references to this and other matters which the Council would rather have not seen discussed in public have led to West Dunbartonshire Council refusing to speak to our journalists.
Told we hadn’t done ourselves any favours in this regard, Provost Karen Murray Conaghan was asked to name one instance when she felt we had stepped out of line.
And why the Council had not taken us to court for defamation, the SNP Provost who was shoe-horned into the role when her predecessor retired and the Labour administration fell apart, said we had spelt soneone’s name wrong and this had upset them.