Outgoing Clerk's presence when discussing his departure.

Question

An internal candidate to be our new Clerk has been offered the post. Although the ad stated a starting date, the offer letter simply states it'll be when the current Clerk leaves, no date given. This turns out to be deliberate, and not as a request from Cllrs or candidate. A number of Cllrs are protesting this strange decision of the interviewing panel. We will discuss this in a confidential session of our next meeting, the current Clerk being present. Can we insist that the Clerk be excluded when discussing this item?

Answer 1

Many will have guessed that I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories but has anyone actually asked why that is?    I can think of quite a few legitimate reasons such as a request from the clerk who is leaving to go earlier than his/her contract might indicate.  This is very common but would probably require council's approval which hasn't yet been given.  Personally I'd ask.

I'd also add that your council or someone should be conducting an exit interview with the outgoing clerk (or any member of staff) to discuss why they're leaving.  Not to stop them resigning but to possibly identify any issues or indeed areas for improvement that might be of value or even just to wish them well for the future.

Answer 2

Your offer letter doesn't comply with employment law. Check the relevant pages on the ACAS website for the content of an offer letter.

Comments

Looking at this again, are you saying that the interviewing panel has issued an offer letter before the Council has met to ratify their decision? That would be an unusual sequence of events. The panel should make a recommendation to the Council regarding the appointment and the Council should ratify both the appointment and the terms and conditions, including the start date. These functions could be delegated to a staffing committee if you have one and the terms of reference specifically include them.

Has the outgoing Clerk written a letter of resignation and has the Council issued a formal response? This would normally include matters such as last working day, holiday entitlement, financial arrangements etc.

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Thank you Dave. It's rather complicated and delicate. Hence why I'm simply confining the question to whether the Clerk can be asked to absent himself during discussions. (It's then up to the staff committee to take matters forward.)