Thanks to “early release” from Westminster City Council, Pedro Wrobel takes over as the new Joint Chief Executive of Waverley & Guildford Councils.
Neither Guildford nor Waverley local authority had expected to welcome the new head honcho to their ranks until the end of April.
However, Council Leader Paul Follows told the Full Council that he was grateful for the early release programme of his previous employer- Westminster City Council, as Mr Wrobel was joining them two months earlier than expected.
He said: Welcome, Pedro – and thanks for joining us early two months ahead of schedule and at a particularly important time when it is even more appreciated now than it might have been.
Mr Wrobel was formerly the Executive Director for Innovation & Change at Westminster City Council.
Policy Fellow, Centre for Science and Policy
Pedro Wrobel was responsible for Westminster City Council’s policy, strategy, analysis, change and communication functions. His team supported the Council in engaging with residents and businesses, ensured that strategy was underpinned by analysis and evidence, and drove innovation across the Council’s services.
Pedro was previously Director of Planning at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Before that, he was Director of the Cabinet Office Systems Unit and the Cabinet Office’s Head of Profession for Policy. Before that, he was Chief Strategy Officer at the Valuation Office Agency.
Pedro has been a civil servant since 2003 and has held various strategy, policy and analytical roles in HM Treasury, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Child Support Agency and HM Revenue and Customs, including as private secretary to Treasury Ministers across the last Labour and Coalition governments.
He joins Waverley/Guildford as the New Chief Executive on a Council-approved salary of £165,000annuallym. He is also the Section 151 Officer.
The Council shares a Joint Management Team with Guildford Borough Council, including a joint Chief Executive (who is also the joint Head of Paid Service for both Councils), Directors and Executive Heads of Service. Waverley Borough Council determines the Joint Management Teams’ terms and conditions of employment, and the Joint Negotiating Committee determines an annual pay award. The Joint Appointments Committee decide any cost of living increases for the Joint Chief Executive. The costs of the Joint Management Team are shared across the two councils. The percentage split in how costs are shared between the Councils is weighted to reflect the different business needs in each role.
The Joint Management Team is defined as the Chief Executive, the three Strategic Directors and the 12 Executive Heads of Service.
Senior management remuneration
The spot salaries for the pay period 2024-25 are as follows:
Chief Executive: Currently £158,125 per annum ( New Chief Executive Council approved a salary of £165,000 per annum)
Strategic Directors: £125,500 (Subject to the outcome of the 2024/25 pay negotiation) Executive Heads of Service: £92,500 (Subject to the outcome of the 2024/25 pay negotiation)
Statutory Officer Allowance: This is paid to the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer to reflect their additional duties in these statutory roles. This is agreed at 5% of their base salary, amounting to £4625 per annum for 2023/2024.
A review of the Joint Management Team is currently being undertaken.
There are no other additional allowances.
Two senior officers benefit from historic financial arrangements like lease cars and mortgage subsidies. These will end as each contract agreement ends over the next three years.
Meanwhile the prime minister receives a salary of £164,951 for running the entire country. I’m not surprised he went for “early release”.
https://www.westminster.gov.uk/about-council/transparency/executive-pay
His name is still on the WCC Executive pay chart, and he hasn’t come for the money as his pay scale was £165-180k – so why?
He is in for one heck of a shock.
MeaninglessMud
It’s easy to get confused with staff and roles changing weekly, but kindly correct your post. Pedro Wrobel is not the s151 Officer, he is Joint CEO and Head of Paid Service. Richard Bates is the Interim Joint s151 Officer, in his role as Joint Head of Service (Finance).
My understanding is that Pedro’s early release from Westminster was arranged in haste due to the police and internal governance investigations into Guildford Borough Council’s Housing Repairs fraud, as our temporarily promoted Interim Joint CEO Annie Righton has had to recuse herself after serving in her new role for almost a week.
It appears that we now have no Head of Housing, and two of the three Joint Strategic Director positions are not being fulfilled (JSD for Community Wellbeing and JSD for Transformation & Governance).
That much is already in the public domain.
Waverley and Guildford Councillors have just received a Confidential Briefing (at less than 24hrs notice, so many could not attend), the details of which cannot of course be disclosed. I suggest you keep your eyes on the Dragon !
Many thanks for pointing out the error Cllr Hyman, which we have corrected. Yes, these roles are rather confusing, particularly in the present climate of collaborative changes. Thanks for the info.
Reading Jerry Hyman’s comments, It all sounds chaotic. I hope Westminster Council we’re not anxious to give Pedro Wrobel early release.
Chaos is only the start. When he understands the extent of the mess he might reconsider.