Grenfell housing boss quits more than six months after tragedy

The housing boss responsible for running Grenfell Tower has finally stepped down more than six months after the tragedy, the Standard has learned.

Robert Black, former chief executive of the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, quit just before New Year despite being under intense pressure to go since the fire.

Although he stepped aside from the top job in August he had remained on the company’s books on his full salary of around £150,000 a year.

The body said he had spent the intervening months concentrating on helping the police investigation and public inquiry into the fire.

There had been reports that Mr Black would lose out on pension benefits if he left early. However, today the TMO’s board said his resignation terms did not include any top-up to his pension.

There were angry scenes outside the annual meeting of the management company in October when residents learned he was still receiving a salary.

The TMO board accepted Mr Black’s resignation on December 31. He walked away without any compensation pay-out or severance package in place.

The TMO, which managed 10,000 homes in the borough, is under police investigation for the alleged corporate manslaughter of the 71 people killed in the fire.

It was stripped of responsibility for Lancaster West estate by the local council in August and is to be gradually dismantled with residents consulted on its replacememt.

Labour group leader Robert Atkinson said: “It’s entirely appropriate that Robert Black has gone and I hope that this means that the proper dismantling of the TMO can go ahead.

“I think what this shows is that the TMO board has been living in a fantasy world ever since the fire and public opinion has forced them to live in the same world as the rest of us.”

The management company had already paid more than £11,000 towards the pension of its executive director of people, performance and governance at the time of the fire, who has now retired early.

The Standard attempted to contact Mr Black for comment.