Skipton Building Society, which owns Connells Group, has categorically denied any wrongdoing after former Connells Group chief executive David Livesey launched a £7m legal claim against Skipton, alleging he was forced out of the business following a campaign of bullying by senior management.
Livesey, who stepped down in 2023 after more than 35 years with Connells, claims that his position was systematically undermined after Stuart Haire became chief executive of Skipton Building Society.
According to court filings, Livesey alleges Haire sought to diminish his authority and influence within Connells in an effort to force his resignation and pave the way for a new leadership team. He is pursuing claims including unfair dismissal and discrimination.
The allegations stand in contrast to the public statements issued at the time of his departure, when Connells announced Livesey’s retirement and thanked him for his contribution to building one of the UK’s largest estate agency businesses, with more than 1,200 branches and 14,000 staff.
At the time in 2023 he announced his intention to retire, Sarah Whitney, non-executive chair of Connells Group, said: “I’d like to thank David Livesey for the central role he’s played in the success of Connells Group. He leaves with all our best wishes for retirement, said Sarah Whitney, non-executive chair of Connells Group.”
The case is expected to shine a spotlight on the circumstances surrounding the departure of one of the property industry’s longest-serving chief executives and the relationship between Connells and its parent company.
A spokesperson for Skipton told EYE: “We are defending this claim and are limited in what we can say while it is before the Employment Tribunal. We are disappointed that the matter has progressed to this stage, however we firmly deny the allegations raised in this claim.”
The tribunal is continuing to hear evidence.
Comments (6)
Snowflake
Is that gammon I can smell? Anyone got any chips?
I read this with genuine sadness.
Three years ago David showed his characteristic curiosity about the system I had been building. He was keen for it to be assessed by Mr Plumtree and Mr Glasgow. Then, within months, things changed. At the time I was surprised by the timing of his departure. Now I understand why.
David and the Connells team achieved something that very few of the 1986 FSA intake managed: they made corporate agency work. When I entered this industry, corporate ownership was supposedly going to be the death of independent agency. Most of those building society and corporate-owned networks of that era either drifted, got sold, or quietly failed to justify the acquisition thesis.
Connells under David was simply formidable.
When I moved across to become a service supplier I understood the corporate agency model well enough to know what serving it would cost. When asked to tender for the big corporate deals my stock reply was a polite decline. That single decision earned me one consistent set of grief from my own board for the next ten years. But I knew that chasing that business would mean falling over backwards for a client demanding huge discounts at the direct expense of the independent agents who never asked for anything except a fair service. I was right then and the principle still holds.
David Livesey gave 35 years to building something exceptional. Helen Charlesworth inherited a formidable platform and has proved herself a worthy successor. Now that the full circumstances of David’s departure are emerging, what Helen stepped into and what she has built from it is somehow more remarkable, not less. They both deserve better than this story.
I hope this is either heard fairly by the tribunal or settles equitably with justice served.
Well said Mrs Livesey
something odd going on at the top of Connells a few years ago, to many people leaving and/or being asked to leave!
If I were Skipton I would settle now – David will have his ducks in a row, supported by his former senior management team. What a sad end to an illustrious career at Connells Group. If it goes to a hearing, listen out for “cantilevers”!