Dr Dave Smith is running Slough council at £1,100 a day, but only until 30 November, when government intervention is due to end. What comes next is not known.
Slough Borough Council’s new chief executive has been appointed only until 30 November 2026. That is the day the government’s intervention in the council is due to end. Ministers have not yet said what happens after it.
Dr Dave Smith took charge of the council on Monday 17 August. He replaced Will Tuckley, whose last day was Sunday 16 August. The appointment was reported to full council on 24 September (Slough Borough Council, Appointment of Chief Executive, report to Council).
Appointed by commissioners, not councillors
Dr Smith holds two jobs at once. The government nominated him as Managing Director Commissioner, one of the officials it has placed in charge of the council. The council’s commissioners then made him chief executive, head of paid service and returning officer.
Councillors normally make that appointment. In Slough they did not. Lead Commissioner Gavin Jones used the commissioners’ default powers to appoint Dr Smith on 11 August, “on behalf of the Council” (Lead Commissioner’s letter, 11 August 2026). The report to the September meeting asked councillors only to note it.
£1,100 a day, paid by the council
The government’s appointment letter sets out the terms (MHCLG, Managing Director Commissioner appointment letter, 17 August 2026):
- a fee of £1,100 a day
- for up to 260 days a year, which would come to £286,000 if every day were used
- plus reasonable expenses
- paid by Slough Borough Council, not by the government
- nominated from 17 August until 30 November 2026
The council’s report says the cost “will be met from existing budget”. The daily rate is the same as Mr Tuckley’s when he was appointed in November 2024 (MHCLG, Will Tuckley’s appointment letter, 20 November 2024).
The letter also says what the job is for. Dr Smith is to set “clear direction on governance, decision-making and financial sustainability”. He is also to help the council build a permanent senior leadership team.
Why 30 November matters
The government first sent commissioners into Slough in December 2021, after finding evidence of what it called “significant Best Value failure”. In November 2024 it issued new legal Directions that extended the intervention until 30 November 2026 (MHCLG, letter to the Managing Director Commissioner, 20 November 2024).
That end date is now eight weeks away, and the signs are that the council will not be ready.
In March the local government minister, Alison McGovern, wrote to the commissioners about their seventh report. She noted that “on current trajectory you do not envisage that Slough will be meeting the Best Value duty by November 2026” (Ministerial response to the commissioners’ seventh report, 5 March 2026). The Best Value duty is the legal test of whether a council is run properly.
In the same letter she ordered an external review, led by Dame Mary Ney with Will Godfrey. Its terms of reference cover three things (MHCLG, external review terms of reference):
- why Slough’s recovery has been “inconsistent”, including senior staff turnover, political instability and money
- options to speed up improvement “up to and beyond the scheduled end of Best Value directions in November 2026”
- “the long-term viability of SBC on its current footprint”
The review was due to report by the end of April. As of 2 October, the government’s page for the review holds only the terms of reference and the reviewers’ appointment letters (MHCLG, Slough Borough Council: External review). The report itself has not been published.
What we do not know yet
- Whether the intervention will be extended. That is for the Secretary of State to decide, and no announcement has been made.
- What the external review recommended. The government has not published it.
- Who leads the council after 30 November if Dr Smith’s nomination is not renewed. The council’s report says only that it “will determine the most appropriate contractual arrangements” for his dual role.
The children’s services intervention is separate. It is run by the Department for Education, which in March was appointing a SEND commissioner and a children’s services adviser, according to the review’s terms of reference. Ofsted rated every area of Slough’s children’s services inadequate in August; we covered that report here.
What it means for you
Day-to-day services carry on as normal whatever is decided. Bins, council tax and planning are unaffected by who holds the chief executive’s title.
What residents pay for is the oversight itself. Commissioners’ fees and expenses are met by the council, so they come out of the same budget as services. That budget is already under strain: the council is forecasting a £19.9m overspend this year, and its 2026/27 budget relied on £42.9m of exceptional financial support from the government. Our Slough council tax bands page sets out what each household pays.
The decision on what happens after 30 November will shape how Slough is run for years. We will report it when the government announces it.
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