'Controversial' Nottinghamshire police deputy officially appointed on £60k salary

Nottinghamshire's police and crime commissioner, Gary Godden, pictured with his deputy, Angela Kandola, at the Nottingham Carnival. Both are wearing sunglasses, with Gary sporting a white polo shirt and Angela wearing a pink top.
-Credit: (Image: Nottinghamshire PCC)


Nottinghamshire's police and crime commissioner has finally appointed his £60,000 deputy after "due diligence" checks had to be carried out on her. Gary Godden says he is "more than satisfied" that all checks have now been carried out and that Angela Kandola is the right person for the role.

Gary Godden, elected as Nottinghamshire's police and crime commissioner at the May 2024 local elections, first announced in July that he intended to appoint Councillor Kandola as his deputy. All police and crime commissioners are entitled to appoint a deputy to assist their work, but the previous Conservative PCC scrapped the role after winning the 2021 election.

Mr Godden wanted the role to return and Councillor Kandola will now earn a £62,720 salary on a pro-rata basis - with the deputy PCC role entailing 33 hours of work a week. A Nottinghamshire police and crime panel meeting on August 6 was originally set to approve Councillor Kandola's appointment, but this was postponed at the last minute as Mr Godden said further "checks" were needed.

It is understood letters were sent to the independent chair of the police and crime panel opposing Councillor Kandola's appointment. A petition was then lodged with the panel, attracting around 70 signatures from people in the Berridge ward of Nottingham that Councillor Kandola represents on Nottingham City Council.

The matter came back to Nottinghamshire's police and crime panel on Monday (September 16), where Mr Godden said his duties have "vastly developed" since the PCC role was first created in 2012 and that he therefore needs a deputy. Yet some members of the panel raised concerns about the need for the role.

Councillor Jonathan Wheeler, a Conservative member of the panel, said: "The money that we're spending on the role... could actually be spent in the community. I will be voting against this today." Councillor John Wilmott, an independent councillor on the panel, labelled the appointment "controversial."

Others were fully supportive of the role, with Labour's Councillor Linda Woodings saying: "The previous police and crime commissioner admitted to this panel that she was struggling to cover all the meetings and all the duties that were part of her responsibilities." Christine Goldstraw, the independent chair of the police and crime panel, confirmed that petitions for and against Councillor Kandola's appointment had been considered.

The chair also said there had been letters from "various members of the public that are of a sensitive nature which we couldn't reveal in this forum." Asked about the checks he had carried out on Councillor Kandola since the previous meeting, Mr Godden said: "The due diligence checks have been done on Angela and I'm more than satisfied that those checks are completed, accurate, and I'm happy to go ahead with nominating Angela Kandola as my deputy."

In terms of the value for money concerns, Mr Godden added: "I have over 100 requests for meetings to attend, I can't possibly do that as a single person. It's really important that with the role changing and the demands that it's changed to... we have that sustainability within the team to be able to pick up those roles and to be able to deliver on what is a very, very ambitious policing plan.

"The demand on me, the demand on Angela, is going to be huge." The police and crime panel eventually voted to accept Mr Godden's recommendation.