Council's top legal executive Rochelle Tapping dismissed from £100k+ role after failing probation

Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) top legal executive has been removed from her £100,000+ role, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) can exclusively reveal.

Rochelle Tapping, appointed as PCC's Director for Legal and Governance in November last year, was let go after she was deemed to have failed her six-month probation.

Ms Tapping was one of the eight members of PCC’s corporate leadership team and one of just three who held a statutory role – meaning that it must be carried out by law.

Her duties included providing legal advice to council officers and elected councillors as well as sitting in meetings to ensure PCC’s rules and procedures are properly followed.

The role is currently vacant.

It’s unclear exactly why Ms Tapping was deemed to have failed her probation by chief executive Matthew Gladstone, but his recommendation was supported by both an independently-appointed panel and PCC’s elected councillors.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Any new employee, even the most senior, is subject to a 6-month probation period

“At an Extra-Ordinary meeting on 31 August, Council decided to terminate the employment of the council’s Director of Legal and Governance (Monitoring Officer).

“This followed a recommendation to terminate by the Chief Executive on the basis that the Monitoring Officer had not successfully passed her probation period. This recommendation was reviewed by an independent panel and found to be reasonable and valid.”

At the extraordinary council meeting, the panel that reviewed the recommendation to dismiss Ms Tapping was ratified in public, while the decision to terminate her contract was held in private.

The meeting was attended by solicitors acting on behalf of both Ms Tapping and the council as well as a UNISON union member and Maxine McFarlane, Ms Tapping’s mother.

The role of Director for Legal and Governance at PCC is currently vacant.

Ms Tapping has previously held the roles of Deputy Monitoring Officer at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and Birmingham Council.