A 'SUBSTANTIAL' sum of money would have been due to a former town hall boss had his resignation not been accepted, Bury Council's leader has claimed.

Cllr Rishi Shori said tonight that Mike Owen — who resigned as council chief executive on the eve of a disciplinary hearing about his handling of child protection procedures last month — submitted a sick note along with his resignation letter.

That means that had the council not accepted his resignation, Mr Owen — who earned £157,00 a year — could have claimed his salary for up to six more months.

Cllr Shori told tonight's full council meeting that the disciplinary hearings for Mr Owen, fellow senior officer Mark Carriline, and monitoring officer Jayne Hammond would have had to be delayed if the resignation was not accepted.

Mr Carriline also later resigned over his role in the investigation into the actions of former councillor Simon Carter, and neither he nor Mr Owen received any pay-off.

Cllr Shori said: "Mike Owen started negotiating a week before the hearing and he wanted a sizeable sum. The response he got from me was, 'absolutely not'.

"The Friday before the hearing, he submitted his resignation with a doctor's note saying that he was unfit to attend."

He added: "We would have had to cancel the Human Resource and Appeals Panel. Mike Owen could have been off sick for up to six months on full pay — which was £157,000 a year. That is a substantial amount of money.

"It is possible that the other officers would have also had to be off work on full pay.

"We could not go to court and get an order compelling him to attend the hearing.

"We had nothing at our disposal to make him come to the council."

Before the meeting, Mr Owen had told the Bury Times: “I was not in a position to attend the Panel’s meeting as my GP had earlier declared me too unwell to attend.

“In order to reduce cost and avoid disruption to the Council and its employees, and having come to the conclusion that my position as Chief Executive was untenable irrespective of the outcome of the hearing, I felt it would be in everyone's best interest if I resigned ahead of the Panel’s meeting.

“Therefore, after 31 years’ service with the Council, I decided to resign on 18 June and I would stress that I have received absolutely no compensation or financial inducement.