SLOUGH’S sacked chief executive is “prepared to robustly defend” her reputation after she was dismissed for “gross misconduct”.

Chief exec Josie Wragg was sacked by government-appointed commissioners yesterday following the investigating disciplinary committee’s recommendations to dismiss Mrs Wragg.

It concluded Mrs Wragg was “seriously negligent” and failed to address the issues Slough Borough Council was facing when she joined in 2018.

Mrs Wragg was “financially blind” in carrying out a council-wide restructure before the council’s accounts were signed off. The committee called this move “reckless”.

READ MORE: Slough chief executive sacked for "gross misconduct"

In a statement on her LinkedIn profile, a social media networking website, Mrs Wragg said she ‘wholly refutes’ the decision, calling them “baseless claims”.

She stated: “I wholly refute the decision taken today [March 9] by Slough Borough Council. I am prepared to robustly defend my reputation, which has been established following 30 plus years of otherwise unblemished service in local government, in the face of these baseless claims.”

Mrs Wragg had been missing from her post since September and the council later confirmed she was “off sick” since November.

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The council declared a section 114, effectively declaring bankruptcy and freezing all non-essential spending, and is estimating a £479m deficit in the next few years.

The council will be selling up to £600m of its assets and be making £20m-worth of savings a year for the next five years to plug its financial gap and reduce its £760m borrowing debt.