COUNCIL'S STAFF PAID £400,000 TOO MUCH

Overpayments of more than £400,000 have been accidentally added to the pay packets of staff at Derby City Council since 2005. But the council can only say for certain that it has recovered £290,000 of the £434,189.79 because one department failed to keep detailed records and other departments are still trying to claw back the money. The figures also showed that on several occasions one staff member was given £8,000 extra in their pay packet in a single overpayment.

The figures, revealed after a Freedom of Information request by the Derby Telegraph, cover the period from April 2005 to April 2009. The council said the overpayments were wrongly made for a number of reasons, sometimes due to errors by payroll staff, sometimes because the council was not informed a staff member was on long-term sick leave or on a sabbatical. The department which had the worst record for overpayments was the Children and Young People's section which deals with child protection and schools.

Council leader Hilary Jones said the authority was looking at how mistakes could be avoided. She said, "Overpayments have been made, action has already and will continue to be taken to recover any over payment as well as reviewing our procedure to prevent this happening again. These debts will stand and we will do everything within our power to recover the debt including pursuing salary deductions and pension benefit withholding."

There the total amount overpaid between April 2005 and April 2009 was nearly £210,000. Of that, the council could only say it was certain it had recovered around £97,000. It says this is because for 2005-6 and 2006-7 the council did not monitor how much it recovered in that department, despite keeping a record for the other sections of the council. The council said that before 2007, there was only a manual system of checking for overpayment recovery.

This meant individual files would have had to be checked and that was inefficient and generally did not happen in the face of other demands. That issue was recognised and a system which monitors all cases on a computerised spreadsheet was put into effect in 2007. A council statement put the reason for the problem being greater in the Children and Young People's section down to the size of the department.

It said, "A major factor in the level of overpayments in the Children and Young People's Department is the scale of the operation, which includes almost all of our schools and a large department. This results in the issue of around 8,000 payslips per month, linked to all of the data transfer that is necessary between the payroll team and so many different sites. The greatest proportion of the mistakes appear to arise from the information provided to payroll."

The council has a total gross payroll for all staff, including teachers, of £195m, and said that it does not allow for a margin for error. An employment expert said that while overpayments were common, they were usually only on a minor scale. He added, "Recovery can also be a problem because although businesses have the right to get the money back, it can be difficult when employees have spent it and are then in difficult circumstances." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jul/09)

Council bosses are enjoying massive pay rises while millions face redundancies, pay cuts and rising council tax. Some local authority bureaucrats have seen their six-figure salaries soar by more than 15% over the past year while one council increased its chief executive’s pay by £40,000 a year. Earlier this week it emerged that council chiefs had resisted Government attempts to publish more information about their pay and pensions, claiming that full disclosure would lead to a public outcry.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is offering its next chief executive a salary of £195,000, £40,000 more than its previous boss and a 20% pay hike while planning a 2.89% rise in council tax this year. Susan Law, Wokingham Borough Council’s chief executive, was paid £157,000 a year in 2008/9. Two years ago, its chief executive was paid £132,534, a 17% increase. Meanwhile, Wokingham is planning to cut 150 jobs and save £9.5million over three years while pushing up council tax by 1.9%.

Andrea Hill, chief executive of Suffolk County Council, earns £220,000 a year, 18% more than the £187,003 paid to her predecessor in 2007/8, while the council prepares a 2.4% tax rise. And Kingston-upon-Hull pays its chief executive Kim Ryley £213,162 compared to £188,584 in 2007/8, a 13% increase. It has also emerged that council bosses are refusing to accept wage freezes to match the hardships of householders hit by rising council tax bills.

Councils face massive cuts in staff. Nottinghamshire County Council warns it plans to shed up to 1,500 jobs while Birmingham City Council has announced up to 2,000 will go. A Department of Communities and Local Government spokesman said, “The Government is working hard to make sure councils have explored every possible step to make efficiency savings before resorting to cuts that may impact on frontline services and jobs.” (Source: Daily Express, Feb/10)

Council staff have been bribed with chocolates to encourage them to turn off their computers at night. The treats were handed out as part of a campaign to encourage its employees to become greener at work. Details of freebies worth £71,626 distributed by councils and Government bodies in Gloucestershire over the last three years were released under the Freedom of Information Act. A Cotswold council spokesman said, "Giving away the odd free gift to staff members is a very effective means of encouraging them to be more eco-aware on a permanent basis, and is widely practised in organisations across the UK."

He added, "Turning off one single computer overnight can save £10 a year and, given the number of terminals at the council, we estimate that this simple action could save us almost £3,000 annually. £50 for chocolates out of a £500 sustainability budget seems a small price to pay to aim for an achievement of this scale." Cheltenham Borough Council was the most free-spending authority in the county, splashing out £18,334 on gifts and initiatives since 2007. It teamed up with NHS Gloucestershire to buy £1,000 worth of shirts, drink bottles and stress balls for people referred onto an exercise programme by their doctor.

It also spent £1,500 on fruit, bottled water, soft drinks and sweets for family events and £70 on handing out lollipops to reduce anti-social behaviour at night. Jane Griffiths, the council's assistant chief executive, said, "Very occasionally, promotional material is used to support a particular campaign or event to engage children and other audiences, particularly those who are hard to reach. Given the financial challenges that we face, any promotional material of this kind is considered carefully to ensure that it will add value to the campaign before expenditure is incurred."

The Government Office for the South West has splashed out £2,713 since 2007, including £105 on relaxation therapies for its stressed staff. The South West Regional Development Agency spent £8,153 over the same period, mostly on pens and London 2012 Olympic flags to give away. Tewkesbury Borough Council shelled out £9,408, including £4,224 on trolley coins and fridge magnets and £1,271 on T-shirts and badges for an anti-shoplifting campaign. Verna Green, the authority's corporate head of community development and partnerships, said, "These items provide a valuable and effective way of publicising how the public can access services." (Source: Daily Mail, Jul/10)