THE West of England Combined Authority has “squandered almost £1 million of hard-earned taxpayers’ cash” on exit packages to senior staff, councillors say.
WECA’s recently-published annual draft accounts show it made £242,000 in payoffs between April 2025 and March this year, adding to the £457,000 the year before and £219,000 in 2023/24.
The accounts also reveal chief executive Stephen Peacock received a £235,454 annual salary, along with £34,593 in employer pension contributions – a package of about £270,000.
And the number of staff on £50,000 or more almost doubled, from 64 to 113.
Bristol city councillor and WECA audit committee member Jonathan Hucker (Con, Stockwood), a qualified accountant, said: “Over the past three years, WECA has squandered almost £1m of hard-earned taxpayers’ cash.
“To put this into context, this equates to the annual income tax paid by over 200 workers on the average wage.
“It is a shocking and disgusting waste of taxpayers money by this completely dysfunctional organisation.”
A table in the accounts shows the number of staff at the combined authority – comprising Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils – who were paid at least £50,000 soared last year, as did the number paid £80,000-plus.
A WECA spokesperson said the authority would not comment on HR matters.
The comments followed revelations that WECA’s deputy mayor did not deputise a single time for Metro Mayor Helen Godwin last year, despite being paid a £19,300 salary for the role.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed Kevin Guy, who is also Bath & North East Somerset Council’s leader, had little to do in the role between May 2025 and May this year.
Democracy campaigner Andrew Lynch told Weca’s audit committee that the authority “had no clue about what the deputy mayor was up to on Weca’s behalf”.
Metro Mayor Helen Godwin and Cllr Guy said in response that the position of deputy mayor was “important” and legally required, although Ms Godwin’s predecessor Dan Norris did not appoint a deputy throughout his tenure from 2021-25.
They said the special allowance for the role of £19,300 was decided by an independent remuneration panel.
Cllr Guy did not deputise for the mayor at any statutory public meetings and did not chair any advisory boards at Ms Godwin’s request, although he did chair the transport advisory board in his capacity as a leader of one of Weca’s constituent authorities.
By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service