Council struggles in search for new boss

A local authority says it has struggled to recruit a new boss to replace their current chief executive, who was set to step down this month.

In September, Paul Walker announced plans to leave his post at the helm of Herefordshire Council after taking up the role in spring 2021.

His appointment at the time followed a damning High Court judgement against the council's children's services which have since improved and were rated as good after their latest inspection by Ofsted.

"Although we got some excellent applicants, our employment panel decided they wanted to extend the search to find the very best candidate for Herefordshire," a spokesperson said.

Walker agreed to stay on in the post "for a few more months", while recruitment continued.

A decision on appointing a new chief executive was due to be made by the council's employment panel a month ago, but the meeting was cancelled.

Papers from an earlier meeting of the panel revealed that the latest published salary for the role, of £168,970 for 2024-25, was the second from lowest among England's smaller counties - the lowest being Rutland, which has nearly a fifth of Herefordshire's population.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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