City of York Council has defended a shake-up at the top that a former director said would have had a chilling effect on his career.
Neil Ferris was corporate director of place at the council. That meant he oversaw projects including York Central infrastructure, the Station Gateway scheme and delivering £100 million in flood defences.
He left the authority in August last year after his role was deleted. He chose not to take up an alternative position.
Mr Ferris has taken the authority to an employment tribunal, claiming the restructure would have seen him effectively demoted.
The tribunal is set to rule on whether Mr Ferris is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment following restructuring which took place last year.
It will also decide if the council offered him reasonable alternative employment and whether or not he unreasonably turned their proposal down as part of that process.
The restructuring, which began in January 2024, was designed to improve the “agility and efficiency of the authority”, according to a council agenda at the time.
It saw Mr Ferris’ corporate director of place role deleted along with four others and the creation of three new ones.
During the consultation that followed, Mr Ferris was offered a new director of city development role. He declined it, believing it to be an effective demotion which would harm his career, before leaving the council.
‘Not a demotion’
At the tribunal in Leeds yesterday (Tuesday), presided over by employment judge Ian Miller, York council’s chief operating officer Ian Floyd defended the handling of the restructure.
He said the director of city development role would have had a similar level of responsibility to Mr Ferris’s previous job.
Mr Ferris would still have reported to him directly, Mr Floyd told the tribunal.
The official added it would also have seen Mr Ferris take the lead on working with the then newly-created York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.
He would also have dealt with stakeholders such as the vice chancellors of York’s two universities and the chief executives of other major organisations, according to Mr Floyd.
Mr Ferris had been difficult during the restructure, calling for the process to be restarted, Mr Floyd said.
Mr Floyd told the hearing: “The role was different but not a demotion.
“What would have amounted to a demotion was a role that was significantly different in its purpose, that wasn’t part of the management team, wasn’t reporting to myself and was lower down the staff tier structure.”
But during questioning from Mr Ferris’ legal counsel Lee Bronze, the tribunal heard the ex-director would have gone from managing a team of more than 700 staff to one with 24.
Mr Floyd also confirmed the ex-director would have moved to a post with a salary of up to 12 per cent less than his existing role.
The tribunal heard Mr Ferris’ salary would have been protected under local government pay rules but Mr Bronze said he would have been “left treading water financially” compared to his peers.
Mr Bronze told the hearing Mr Ferris would also have gone from managing a revenue budget of around £70 million-a-year and overseeing a £400 million capital programme to a £1.3 million-a-year budget.
In response, Mr Floyd said he could not confirm precise figures, with the value of the capital programme varying depending on schemes being worked on at a given time.
Mr Floyd said there would have been significant opportunities for the position to grow and evolve.
The chief operating officer told the tribunal he did not agree with Mr Ferris’ view that taking the role would have a chilling effect on his career.
The tribunal hearing continues.
