Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Equality, diversity and inclusionLatest NewsEconomics, government & business

EHRC admits redundancy blunder wouldn’t have happened in the private sector

by Louisa Peacock 3 Dec 2009
by Louisa Peacock 3 Dec 2009

The equality watchdog has admitted that the rehiring blunder, which saw seven senior staff paid £324,000 after they took generous early severance packages, would not have happened in the private sector.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) yesterday blamed its precursor agencies’ voluntary retirement rules, claiming that it had “no choice” about allowing talented staff to leave the body, only to then re-employ them as consultants, at a total cost of nearly £1m.

Facing a grilling from MPs on the public accounts select committee, chairman Trevor Phillips said: “We had no choice about the way this could be done. We had no option but to offer these [redundancies] on a voluntary basis.

“The view was, we needed fewer staff and that would put us in a favourable parliament expenditure position. But the cost on that is that we could not foresee who went.”

He added: “We could not create a situation in which we could tell people to stay.”

But after further questions from MPs, interim chief executive Neil Kinghan admitted: “They [the private sector] would have preceded by maintaining people they had with expertise whom they thought necessary.”

In a hard-hitting report by the National Audit Office, the commission was criticised for poor planning during the setting up of the EHRC, which left it 140 staff short when it was due to start operations. The body had only 10 of 25 directors in place.

A total of 185 staff out of 600 employed by the former agencies were granted voluntary redundancy or early retirement, costing £11m.

Phillips said: “When we opened our doors in October 2007 we were desperately short of senior managers. The chief executive [then Nicola Brewer] and I discussed how we would fill the skills gaps and one of the things she wanted to do was to bring back some of the senior officers who had worked on the senior management team and the transition team.”

He added that with hindsight, the commission should have “probably” delayed its start date to give it time to address staff shortage problems, but ultimately this would have been at greater cost to the taxpayer.

Phillips denied that the seven staff were brought back under a “sweetheart understanding”, as one of the MPs had put it. “I don’t do nudges and winks, that is not my style,” he said.

Kinghan said: “We accept [the seven] should have been recruited in a more open way and on a competitive basis. I would accept it was a mistake at the time.”

The seven staff brought back – five without a break in contracts – included a director of communications and several corporate lawyers, at a cost of £323,708. Between them they received a severance package of £629,276.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

During the hearing it emerged that Kinghan, who took up the interim role in May this year, after Brewer left, earns £1,000 a day. The highest amount paid to the managers who were re-hired was £822 per day – giving them considerably more than when they were employed as staff.

The EHRC was formed by merging the Equal Opportunities Commission, Disability Rights Commission and Commission for Racial Equality, which Phillips chaired.

Louisa Peacock

previous post
Police should improve organisation to cut overtime budgets
next post
Green issues: How green is your travel?

You may also like

UK net migration slashed by half in one...

22 May 2025

The Law Society: Navigating the new world of...

22 May 2025

How neuroscience can unlock employee recognition

22 May 2025

HSBC employees warned of office attendance link to...

22 May 2025

Workplace stress: Why it’s time to rebrand resilience

22 May 2025

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

Redefining leadership: From competence to inclusion

21 May 2025

Pay awards in real terms could fall for...

21 May 2025

Ryanair demands flight attendants pay back salary increase

21 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+