Caerphilly County Borough councillors have ratified payouts of more than £200,000 made to senior bosses that were deemed unlawful by the Wales Audit Office (WAO).
It means that nearly £220,000 paid to more than 40 senior managers in 2012 will not have to be paid back to the authority – despite the process of the original decision being unlawful.
The so-called ‘buy outs’ were made as compensation to changes to terms and conditions that saw senior managers lose their car allowance and five days of annual leave.
The council will also have to fork out a tax bill due to a miscalculation of the amount bosses should have had deducted from the ‘buy outs’.
A WAO report published in December 2013 said that neither the leader, deputy leader or the councillor responsible for human resources at the time were consulted.
It said the change in the allowances affected the council’s chief executive, the currently suspended Anthony O’Sullivan, and as such should have been taken by councillors, instead of him and other senior bosses.
This means the decision taken at a full council meeting last night, January 27, makes the payments lawful.
Labour councillors managed to foil a Plaid Cymru and Trade Union call to adjourn the decision to pass the recommendation made by the council’s chief executive Chris Burns.
A statement by trade unions Unison and GMB, opposing the decision and sent to councillors, said: “Due to the number of inaccuracies the trade unions request that this report is rejected in its entirety, which will allow a full and open debate to take place prior to re- presenting the issue again to council.
“Lastly, a commitment to the trade unions and staff of CCBC that a full internal investigation takes place to explore how this authority was brought into disrepute.”
The call was supported by Plaid Cymru group leader Colin Mann, who was deputy leader of the council at the time of the payments.
After the meeting Cllr Mann said: “We are extremely disappointed that the Labour Party ignored the strong feelings of the trade unions on this matter.
“The unions had concerns about aspects of the accuracy of the report and the least thing we could have done was deferred this matter for a month. There was an opportunity to have proper dialogue before a decision was taken – and the ruling group refused.”
But Labour councillors welcomed the resolution of the issue.
Council leader, Cllr Keith Reynolds, said: “The decision to make these payments was made in 2012 – under the last, Plaid Cymru-controlled, administration.
“Our Labour-led Council has now decided to put things right and act on the WAO’s recommendation to resolve this matter properly.
“The policy was actually a reasonable one, and in the best interests of taxpayers and staff.
“Our council’s formal confirmation of the previous decision meets the WAO’s requirements and will allow us to move on and focus on the more important business of protecting Caerphilly County Borough residents’ valued services in the face of ever-deeper Tory-led Westminster government cuts.”
The meeting was plagued by a series of problems with a new electronic voting system that meant voting had to be taken by a show of hands.
The electronic voting system was introduced after another WAO recommendation, and representatives from the audit office witnessed the problems.
Lyndon Binding, deputy leader of the Plaid Cymru group said in the meeting: “This whole electronic voting is a sham. It’s eroding the democratic process of this chamber.”
Labour councillor Hefin David said there would be no comment on the “technical issues”.
He said Labour were forced to make a decision at the meeting to clean up Plaid Cymru’s “mess”.
A Caerphilly County Borough Council spokesman said: “The authority has worked hard over many years to harmonise the terms and conditions of all staff across the organisation.
“The original decision to ‘buy out’ essential car user allowance and annual leave allowance formed part of this process and dates back to 2012. However, the decision was subsequently deemed unlawful by the WAO on the basis of procedural grounds.
“One of the recommendations of the WAO was that the council should make a formal, lawful decision to put the matter in order. A report was presented to full council and members have now taken the decision to ratify the original decision.”