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For a total of £24,000 a year, it provided hot meals to elderly residents in the area.
Yet a Labour-run council has axed its ‘meals on wheels’ service – even after paying its outgoing chief executive more than £600,000, it emerged yesterday.
Croydon Council, in south London, was accused of ending a lifeline after it decided not to renew the service.
The same council paid its former chief executive Jo Negrini £613,895 when she left her role two months before the council effectively went bankrupt in November 2020.
Her payoff included a loss-of-office payment of £144,356 and a pension strain payment – which occurs when someone draws their benefits earlier than expected – of £292,851 on top of her normal salary.
Campaigners warned that for some house-bound pensioners without families the meal delivery was one of their few points of human contact.
Its cancellation increases their risk of social isolation and loneliness and has come at a time when rising energy and food bills are leaving many pensioners struggling to cope.
Croydon Council's former chief executive Jo Negrini (above) was paid £613,895 when she left her role two months before the council effectively went bankrupt in November 2020
Croydon Council said it had found alternatives for all users of the service, but critics claimed these were up to 20 per cent more expensive.
