Wednesday February 4th 2026
Scottish Borders Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Cash-strapped Scottish Borders Council has been invited to learn lessons after five senior members of Glasgow City Council received more than £1m in ‘golden goodbye’ early retirement and redundancy pay-outs.
The Accounts Commission says the Glasgow council’s restructuring proposals did not receive any independent scrutiny and appeared to have been approved by some of the individuals who directly benefited.
The five senior staff who left the council between 2021 and 2024 included former chief executive Annemarie O’Donnell.
The regulator said the actions of the senior staff “fell short of the values and principles every public sector worker and councillor are expected to follow”.
Now councils nationwide are being invited by the Accounts Commission to “learn lessons” from the case and improve scrutiny on such payouts, particulary as local authorities face a swathe of cash-saving cutbacks to services.
When members of SBC’s Audit Committee meet on Monday, February 9, they will consider the report and make any specific recommendations.
They will also consider examples in SBC which demonstrate where items of private business activity relating to changes to the Council Management Team structures within the previous two years were submitted for approval.
Both items on March 28, 2024 and March 27, 2025 were considered as private business – with the public and Press excluded.
A report to the committee states: “The key message of the Controller of Audit report was ‘the processes, decisions and actions that enabled five senior Glasgow City Council officers to take significant early retirement and redundancy payouts fell short of the behaviour and standards expected of public servants’.
“The Accounts Commission highlighted that it is vital that all councils take action to recognise the important learnings from this report.”
Police Scotland carried out extensive inquiries into the Glasgow situation following a report, but no criminality was established.
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