Senior manager rejects claims she overpaid people she recruited for Council

By Julia Gregory, local democracy reporter

A senior manager rejected claims she was “overpaying” people she recruited to join her team at Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

Rachael Wright-Turner joined the council in November 2017 as the £127,000-a-year director of public services.

She moved there from her previous job as director of children’s services at Kensington and Chelsea Council after working on the recovery process after the fatal fire at  Grenfell Tower in June 2017.

She was cross examined about a  series of texts to and from her were read out at an employment  tribunal.

She is claiming that Hammersmith and Fulham Council did not make adjustments for disability after she suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) after her work at Grenfell, and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) .

Her probation in her new job  was extended and she was dismissed from the council.

Dijen Basu, QC, for the council, asked her why one candidate’s salary was increased by £2,000 although they had already accepted the lower offer.

Ms Wright-Turner  said she reviewed the candidate’s “spinal points” to make sure they “were consistent with different people’s levels of experience so I increased the offer”.

She added:  “The reason I increased it was she would not have stayed long if she had got there and found others were paid more than her.”

Ms Wright-Turner said there were more vacancies than applicants and she was trying to get the best candidates.

At one point the tribunal heard the costs of staffing the team were £0.5m over budget and she was warned to reconsider the costs.

In another message to a contact she hoped to recruit, she wrote: “Don’t worry about interview . I can blag it with my wonderful HR team.”

Ms Wright-Turner told the tribunal: “This was an example of me canvassing someone, she did not want to proceed. Even that wasn’t enough to tempt her to LBHF, which was LBHF’s loss I have to say.”

The tribunal also heard a message to a junior team member about the cabinet member for adult health and social care, councillor Ben Coleman, who she worked with.

She wrote: “He’s a little boy, he just needs to be adored and not challenged by bad mummies taking his toys away.”

She was asked if this was an appropriate way to talk about a councillor and told the tribunal “Maybe not, I was helping a colleague in her way of approaching his behaviour.”

She added: “Probably not appropriate but it made sense to me at the time.”

She explained she had known the councillor for several years and “I don’t think either of us enjoyed each other’s company”.

The tribunal also heard that the council’s chief executive, Kim Smith, hugged her at a meeting on her first day at work after she  was tearful after she had talked about how Grenfell affected her. Ms Smith had also shared a traumatic experience of her own.

Ms Wright-Turner claimed Ms Smith also told her at that meeting “she did not regard me as a team player”.

That same day she did not attend a meeting with councillor Coleman and Ms Smith and told the tribunal she was not informed of it in advance.

When she was told about it she stayed in another meeting instead. She rejected the suggestion that she “stood up” in the other meeting and said Ms Smith could have told her about it when they spoke earlier.

The 14 day hearing continues.