Six senior investment managers from Charles Stanley’s Manchester office, including office head Paul Lawrence, have had their contracts terminated following a dispute with management.

Wealth Manager understands that this dispute concerned remuneration. Alongside Lawrence, the departures include senior investment managers Jon Goldstone, Jeremy Rogers, Don Godwin, Philip Hull and John Wood. Charles Stanley said the investment managers’ self-employed contracts have been terminated.

Jonathan Baker, Charles Stanley’s Leeds head, has relocated to head up the Manchester branch for the medium-term, with Simon Martin taking responsibility for the Leeds office.

The Manchester office has £830 million in assets. 

A source close to the situation, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the dispute had arisen over the allocation of costs, which had reduced bonus payments.

In an internal email seen by Wealth Manager, Charles Stanley chief executive Paul Abberley (pictured) said the restructure had taken place because of a ‘divergence of view’ between executive management and the investment managers regarding strategy and governance.

‘Despite genuine efforts by both sides to address these differences, they have widened rather than narrowed and the position has become untenable for both,’ the email said.

‘This decision was not taken lightly and there are no hard feelings regarding those departing; these were principled differences of perspective,’ it said, adding that the decision was unique to the Manchester office and did not indicate anything about Charles Stanley’s branch strategy.

The group’s Manchester office was the last to sign a pay deal with senior management last summer, following more than two years of negotiations.

The new remuneration contracts moved investment managers from revenue to profit-based pay, with two remuneration schemes agreed for employed and self-employed investment managers.

‘Manchester is one of our largest regional offices and we intend to grow our presence throughout the region, which is strategically important to Charles Stanley. These changes have been made to ensure we are in the right position to grow and develop our business going forward,’ Gary Teper, head of investment management, said.

According to the Financial Conduct Authority register, Goldstone, Rogers and Godwin had been at the business for nearly 17 years, while Lawrence joined 11 years ago. Hull had spent 10 years at the Manchester office, and Wood joined in 2013.