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A cash-strapped Scottish authority is planning to pay off its chief executive, in a secret deal. Tom Cairns is to be paid a lump sum and a pension package of reportedly £233,000 by South Ayrshire Council to leave next August, just four years after he joined. The controversial deal was struck in a meeting behind closed doors at the authority, after a leaked confidential report claimed he lacked the ‘necessary skills' to take the council forward. The council is facing a £2m shortfall in this financial year, and the leaked report claims Mr Cairns is willing to ‘leave the council in the interest of efficiency of the council's services on the basis of a satisfactory package'. Officially, the council is claiming Mr Cairns will take ‘early retirement by mutual agreement' next year. He will remain in position until then on an estimated £115,00 salary – a situation some councillors have privately expressed concern about. A council spokesperson said: ‘At a special meeting of South Ayrshire Council held on Friday 14 September, members considered the future strategic direction of the council and a number of current challenges. ‘Following a full discussion, members decided that Mr Cairns, the council's current chief executive, would continue to lead the council through the impending best value and community planning audit process, and be responsible for implementing a chief officers' appraisal scheme.' It comes just three weeks after the controversial redundancy and retirement package of East Lothian Council chief executive, John Lindsay. His original £300,000 leaving deal was deemed unlawful, after criticism from the Accounts Commission. But he still left the authority this month with a £200,000-plus retirement package.

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WHITEHALL

Chief negotiates secret deal to leave S Ayrshire

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