City of York Council has been ordered to pay £10,500 to a former corporate director of place for failing to offer him a suitable alternative role after making him redundant.
Neil Ferris was responsible for the York Central and Station Gateway schemes, as well as planning, transport, highways, housing and community safety projects.
Ferris left in August 2024 following a restructure process that began in the previous January. The aim of the restructure was to make the council more efficient and agile, and would have seen five roles, including his, removed. These were to be replaced with three new roles, along with a director of city development role which was offered to him. He argued this was a demotion.
During the employment tribunal, Ian Floyd, chief operating officer at the council, said the role would have seen Ferris occupy a high-level position working with major partners.
However, Ferris claimed it had been cobbled together once the council realised the cost of removing him, and it would have had to cover his early retirement costs if he was made redundant after his 55th birthday in July 2024.
The tribunal considered whether Ferris had been denied a statutory redundancy payout because he unreasonably refused the director of city development job. It could not decide if Ferris had unreasonably refused the role, but noted this had no bearing on the outcome if the alternative job was unsuitable, which it ruled it was.
Employment judge Ian Miller said: “The claimant was a very senior government officer and his aspirations were to either obtain a chief executive post of another authority or move sideways into a corporate director or equivalent post in another larger authority. It was the claimant’s view that taking the director of city development role would be a step backwards and that it would harm his career.
“Had the claimant been offered a different job that was suitable, then we think it likely that the claimant’s conduct throughout the consultation period and his complete disengagement from the process about the proposed job would have made his rejection of the job unreasonable. For these reasons, the claimant’s claim is successful, and he is entitled to statutory redundancy payment.”
City of York Council was contacted for comment prior to publication.
