The two top bosses of Bristol Waste who left suddenly on the same day last summer received golden handshakes topping a combined £125,000, it can be revealed. Managing director Tony Lawless and finance director Adam Henshaw parted company in July 2022 with Bristol City Council’s waste firm, which ducked questions at the time as to whether the pair had received a payoff.
There was no announcement of the pair’s departure, even to many councillors, and it only came to light when it was mentioned briefly at a meeting of the authority’s audit committee being covered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) eight days after they formally resigned as directors. Now, the council has been forced to disclose the redundancy payments to both former executives in its statutory annual 2022/23 draft statement of accounts, published this week.
They show that Mr Lawless, who was in charge of the company, was paid £62,317 as “compensation for loss of office” while Mr Henshaw actually received more, £65,155 – a combined total of £127,472 that ultimately falls on city council taxpayers as the authority wholly owns the firm. The company has still not explained why they left or why the payments were made, other than saying at the time that Mr Lawless, who had been in the role for four years, had “stepped down” and Mr Henshaw had “left the business to be free to pursue other opportunities”.
Read more: Bristol Waste bosses resign 'at short notice' from city council company
But that was only the start of the revolving doors at the top of Bristol Waste because it now emerges that there have been three new interim MDs since Mr Lawless’s departure just 10 months ago – and the business is still looking for a permanent boss. As previously reported, Jason Eldridge stepped up from operations director to become the new temporary MD last July.
But only six months later he left the firm due to ill health – although his resignation on January 12 only became public knowledge because of a filing at Companies House published on February 10 that sparked a discussion and concerns from councillors at a scrutiny commission meeting the following week, reported by the LDRS. The accounts show that Bristol Waste paid Mr Eldridge a £50,008 salary while he was in the top job, plus £3,883 of pension contributions, but no compensation for loss of office.
He was replaced by non-executive director and board member Ian Osborne whose services cost the business £39,301 from January to the end of March, which is as far as the accounts go – a maximum of just over 11 weeks – although because he was an interim, an agency would have taken a cut and the amount he received would have been lower. That equates to an estimated £170,000 to £185,000 pro-rata, considerably more than Mr Henshaw’s 2021/22 salary of £126,586.
The LDRS asked Bristol Waste to explain why the payments were made to Mr Lawless and Mr Henshaw and whether Mr Osborne was still the interim MD. A company spokesperson said: “Bristol Waste has undergone a period of rapid transformation, including strengthening our senior leadership to drive the business forward.
“While we complete the process to appoint a permanent managing director, Dave Knight has taken over in an interim capacity. Ian Osborne, who has temporarily fulfilled the role since January, has now returned to his role as a non-executive director.”
Read next:
Bristol Waste loses third top boss in just six months – but councillors were not told
Is this the end for RPZs as council hikes permit charges and orders major review
Salaries of Bristol City's Council's highest paid officers published
POLITICS: To keep up to date with latest Bristol politics news, and discuss thoughts with other residents, join our Bristol politics news and discussion here. You can also sign up to our politics newsletter here.
Click here for the latest headlines from in and around Bristol.
