Caerphilly County Borough Council has agreed to set up a special seven-member cross party committee to investigate concerns surrounding the controversy.
Councillors at a meeting on Thursday also agreed to hire an independent solicitor, at a cost of up to £28,000 to help with the investigation. They also agreed the council’s head of legal, Dan Perkins, should step down from his role as monitoring officer for the next six months while the investigation takes place.
The meeting was told by acting chief executive Nigel Barnett that a solicitor could cost between £10,000 and £28,000 with the investigation taking a maximum of six months.
Council leader Harry Andrews said: “We fully recognise the strength of feeling around this issue and I can give an absolute assurance that a full and thorough investigation will be carried out with immediate effect.
“We have already put in place interim senior management arrangements at the council to ensure effective business continuity while this process is undertaken.”
In September last year, a secret committee of five councillors approved a report by chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan recommending huge pay rises for himself and 20 other senior council officers. Mr Perkins was at the meeting as well as the now suspended Mr O’Sullivan.
A Wales Audit Office report published earlier this month declared the decision “unlawful”. Following this, Gwent Police referred the case to Avon and Somerset Police who are conducting their own investigation.
Cllr Andrews said he has written to the force asking for an update and said the council would “co-operate fully and openly with the investigation”.
In January this year, amid huge anger from staff and the wider public, councillors agreed a compromise deal reducing the pay rises, but this will still cost the local authority £1.5 million over the next four years.
- Caerphilly Council bosses under fire over pay increase
- Caerphilly Council staff voice anger at managers’ pay increase
- Plaid Cymru want Caerphilly Council bosses’ pay hike reversed
- Caerphilly Council managers’ pay rises to be investigated, Labour promises
- Caerphilly Labour councillor reported to Public Services Ombudsman
- Transparency needed, says First Minister, after Caerphilly Council pay row
- Plaid Cymru councillor reported to Public Services Ombudsman in pay row
- Labour councillor cleared by Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
- ‘Compromise’ voted for in Caerphilly Council pay row
- Fresh war of words over Caerphilly Council pay deal
- Decision to give Caerphilly Council bosses huge pay rises deemed “unlawful” by Wales Audit Office
- Police launch investigation into Caerphilly Council pay rises
- Caerphilly Council paid £7,000 for experts’ advice in pay row
- Caerphilly Council chief executive suspended in wake of Wales Audit Office report into pay row
- Caerphilly Council appoints acting chief executive in wake of pay scandal
- Plaid and Labour point finger at each other over damning Wales Audit Office report
Dear sir. I have been following the above story for a few weeks,and it goes from bad to worst.we have been told that 10s of thousands of rate payers money is to be spent on sometime that most people know to have been wrong.the council state that the head of legal will stand down for six months i would like to ask will he still be getting full pay for doeing nothing. (If he is, what a great hoiliday for him.)what a mess this council has got its self into.No wonder the people of Wales are makeing fun of Caerphilly council.
David Trevor Smith.Former member of the council.
How does this work exactly? There is a Police investigation running at present in respect to these exact issues. Why would the council want to spend more money again to replicate those investigation?
Surly it is critical that any internal activity does not compromise a Police investigation, very `dodgy`.
I cannot understand, from the information supplied in the article, exactly what an internal investigation will achieve that cannot be accomplished by the police investigation. The sum mentioned, £28,000, sounds a lot to most of the residents of the borough but actually represents less than a month’s work for a single solicitor.
The public “concerns surrounding the controversy” are common knowledge and require no further investigation. They include,
Why was the meeting and agenda secret?
Why were beneficiaries of the pay rises allowed to sit in on the meeting by experienced councillors?
Why wasn’t the whole council involved in a vote on setting pay rates?
Why didn’t the leader of the council simply thank the (now suspended) Chief Executive for his report and then place it in the recycle bin as soon as he was able?
The latter is what I would have done and I believe that most of the people of this borough would have done the same in this time of cuts, pay freezes and recession.
People are going to question why we need any internal investigation at this juncture. The police have not completed their investigation into this unlawful activity and we still await their findings.
Wasting £28,000 on what exactly? when there is a police investigation underway on the fiasco. Perkins and gareth hardacre should be suspended aswell, and for O'Sullivan to be getting full pay is a farce.
Council tax for the general public has just gone up though. Typical!
I totally agree with Cllr Richard Williams.
One thing for sure CCBC don't mind splashing the money about,I think maybe they have appointed this private Solicitor to defend themselves .
CCBC spending all that money spying on their workers who were on sick pay was that the correct thing to do? Now the cameras are on themselves I bet they are not so keen.
Enough is enough its about time they are investigated.
This looks like the lead up to the most monumentual fudge in the history of CCBC.