The top job at Croydon Council was in the hands of a teenager on Wednesday (November 21).

As part of the Takeover Challenge 17-year-old Charlotte Earl took on the role of Jo Negrini, the council’s chief executive.

The pair had a packed day of meetings lined up where Charlotte got an insight into the day-to-day life of the council boss.

She said afterwards : “I’ve been allowed to gain a really good insight into what’s going on in the council.

“I’ve been at the heart of the operation and understand what it takes to work in local government.

“I think young people generally don’t take an interest in what’s going on at the foundations of the borough but going to all the meetings I’ve been able to see what happens.

“It seems very stressful but I guess it would be really cool to have a job like this.”

The Riddlesdown pupil is hoping to go on to study politics and international relations after her A-levels but is keeping her career options open.

She added: “There’s not much career education at school so getting a chance to access a job for the day is helpful for people.”

But she did add she was surprised how many meetings there were in one day.

Ms Negrini said: “I think it is a really good thing to take part in, especially as we have the youngest population in London.

“We really want to open the council up as a really viable place to do work experience and be employed.

“60% of our staff are from Croydon – the range of opportunities in terms of jobs is really great.”

More than 100 children will take over roles in the council on Friday (November 23) for the Takeover Challenge which took place for the first time last year.