The decision to award Caerphilly Council bosses pay rises running into thousands of pounds was “unlawful”, according to a report by the Wales Audit Office.
The opposition Plaid Cymru group has said the position of council chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan is “untenable” in light of the report.
Pay rises of up to 30% for 21 senior council bosses were agreed by a secret committee of councillors in September 2012 in a move now deemed unlawful by Assistant Auditor General Anthony Barrett.
The pay rises caused huge anger among staff and the public and forced the council to vote through a compromise deal scrapping the original decision.
Assistant Auditor General Mr Barrett said: “I have concluded that the decision by the Senior Remuneration Committee on September 2012 5 to approve the pay structure set out in the report of the Chief Executive was unlawful on a number of grounds.
“The first is that the meeting of the Senior Remuneration Committee was not properly advertised in accordance with the Local Government Act and neither were agendas for the meeting made available for public inspection as they should have been.
“Certain officers, including the chief executive, who would have been (and indeed were) beneficiaries of the decision were present at the meeting to approve the salary increases. No declarations of interest were made and these officers did not leave the room while the decision was made. Consequently they participated in the decision making process when they had a disqualifiying financial interest.”
The Wales Audit Office also pointed out the September report about the pay rises was written by council chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan – who had a financial interest in the decision. It also said a full range of options were not identified by the original report or discussed by the committee of five councillors.
Councillors on the Senior Remuneration Committee were Labour’s Christine Forehead (chair of the committee), deputy council leaders Keith Reynolds, Gerald Jones and David Poole.
Also in the committee was Plaid Cymru councillor James Fussell who has publicly gone on record saying he did not vote for the pay increases.
This is disputed by the other members and the issue has been referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
The critical report notes that a council meeting on January 17, 2013, where a compromise pay deal was voted through, means Mr Barrett will not apply to a court for a declaration.
Under the new deal, Mr O’Sullivan will have his salary capped at £137,000 a year for the next four years instead of it being raised to £158,000.
Pay rises of up to 30% for 20 other council bosses were also revised with chief council officers moving to the lowest increment level instead of the highest.
Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group on Caerphilly council, said: “This report from the Wales Audit Office is a damning indictment. It confirms the meeting of the Senior Remuneration Committee which awarded a huge price rise for top officers was unlawful.
“Weeks after inheriting one of the most financially robust and well run authorities Caerphilly council has become an embarrassment under Labour’s watch. It is no coincidence within weeks of Labour taking over the council senior officers secured an exorbitant pay rise. Caerphilly council under Labour has become a by-word for mismanagement, incompetence and fat-cat pay.
He added: “The auditor’s damning dossier makes the position of the chief executive untenable.”
Cllr Hefin David, speaking on behalf of Caerphilly’s Labour group, said: “The Labour group of councillors discussed this issue collectively for the first time on the December 18, 2012 and then decided to rescind the original pay decision, based on independent legal advice.
“This was agreed by a fresh decision of council on January 17 2013. It was the Labour leadership that took steps to resolve this problem in advance of the Wales Audit report, therefore addressing the irregularities that they identify.”
He added: “The nationalists’ deputy leader, Cllr James Fussell, could have raised awareness of these problems back in September 2012 when the Senior Remuneration Committee meeting was held – but for some reason waited until it was made public in December. If he had indeed voted against the proposal in September, as he claims, why was he silent for three months? The Labour leadership publicly apologised in December for the original pay decision and for that they deserve credit. The Plaid leadership have yet to apologise and it is time they did.”
A spokesman for Caerphilly County Borough Council said: “We are currently reviewing the recommendations contained in the report.
It is important to stress that the decision of the Senior Remuneration Committee was rescinded at a meeting of full council on January 17 where independent external legal advice was received and a new decision was reached.
“The Wales Audit Office report will be considered at a meeting of full council in due course, so it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”
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Clearly Anthony O'Sullivan must now resign his is not just an error of judgement, but an illegal one! This whole episode is a farce.
So a Labour majority 4 from 5 passed the rises but typical they deflect the blame! Jusy Tories in disguise? Clearly we are NOT all in this together!
To the normal man in the street this seems like some kind of fiddle and a breach of trust at the very least.
The decision makers from this process should be saked.
Thats what happens to "normal" people if they are caught on the fiddle!
Clearly this matter has now been Judged upon.
It is clear from the `Judgement` that the professional integrity and ability of the Caerphilly Council`s Chief Executive Anthony O`Sullivan is catastrophically damaged and left him to contemplate his ability to do the job we ratepayers pay him to do, also, lets not forget this man is in charge of all local democratically held elections, can we be sure he has the professional ability to undertake that statutory task lawfully.
His role in this affair was designed solely to increase his and his friends salaries, says the judgement, and, the way he `kept his eye` on all proceedings to do with that personal financial interest was judged to be unlawful`, what next must the Labour Controlled Council do to ensure that our Council`s Chief Executive, whoever that is in the future, is ` fit for purpose`, and that that persons serves the citizens of the borough whist acting within the law and within the public interest and not by promoting and blowing his own out of tune trumpet..
It has also been reported that the Caerphilly Council`s Solicitor in Chief Daniel Perkins was also in attendance at these meetings which have been judged to be unlawful, was he a due recipient of this unlawful financial award from the public purse which the report submitted by the Chief Executive promoted, and, would`nt he have known, with his experience of local government Administration that the meeting was ` unlawful` and, given such circumstances, is there a case of `intent` to mislead anyone by the combined actions of the Chief Executive and this Officer of the Court?.
These and other questions need answering by the Labour Administration of Caerphilly Council, particularly as the same officers appear to be still at the helm of our Local Authority advising officers on policy and the law and been rewarded by increased pay, the Labour Administration, to do so. Who`s judgement is flawed here, and who`s duty of care to all citizens is `questionable,? not those who are intent to hang onto their jobs I suspect.
Presumably the chief executive has broken his code of conduct as its been proven he's acted unlawfully. An internal disciplinary and police investigation should now follow. Mr Sullivan should be setting the standards of public life not dragging the council's reputation through the gutter. I urge our councillors to take decisive action.
Like many people in south Wales, I come from a Labour background, my grandmother was an ativist in the 1920s and was brought up to believe the Labour Party were the good guys, not so today it would appear, the people involved should be ashamed for bringing a once great party into disrespect and should do the honourable thing and resign, because they are a disgrace.
We all know that socialism starts with champagne for those in the Labour party. Plaid naturally don't do socialism on account of not wanting to mingle with the plebs for fear of getting their shoes dirty. Yet both excel at shuffling their feet and saying 'not me guv'.
The only real surprise being that Anthony O’Sullivan has not claimed llancaiach fawr as his country retreat. Seems he doesn't want all the perks of the job of Prime Minister, just a bigger salary.
When complaints of Civic wrongdoing are reported to the Local Government Ombudsman, as in a case of maladministration there are serious misgivings. Much better these issues are now going to be investigated by Avon and Somerset Police
Anyone who has had an acquaintance with the local government ombudsman is aware that they often ignore evidence. They do this to sustain their bizarre decisions. This couldn't happen in a court of law because all evidence is put before a judge by the parties to a case. Both parties are also allowed to test the validity of any evidence presented. As a result a judge who ignores evidence whilst reaching a judgement creates a prima facia case for an appeal.
However, this is not the case with the Ombudsman because they are also responsible for investigating the complaint and as a result they can also influence and control the supply of evidence. Therefore, if the Ombudsman doesn't want to investigate a complaint they just pretend they can't find any evidence. Even if the complainant has supplied evidence of maladministration, or, a Complaint by The Caerphilly council monitoring Officer, Mr Dan Perkins, as in this case, the ombudsman, should they wish to, can just ignore it, the Police cannot do that, and the added backstop in this instance is that the DPP have said they will work with the Police on the evidence trail.
Can some one please explain why senior Local Authority Officers are so highly paid?.
There is an old saying, Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absoltuley, if we look at the history of Local Government in the area the Labour Party seem to think its a mandatory part of the Councillors Handbook.
Regarding Ron James' question "why senior Local Authority Officers are so highly paid?" I don't know Ron, it is one of those intangible, metaphysical questions like “is there a God?” If the strictures of my discipline, engineering, were applied I would say that a salary of about one third of what they actually get paid would be about right.
Before anyone writes in to say that I’m just jealous of those with more money than I have I would cite the example of Bill Gates, who has billions of pounds. I am not envious of him and think that he deserves his wealth. He built a company that gives employment, these highly paid public servants could not expect to earn a fraction of their current pay if they had to work for themselves.
I agree with Richard, if the strictures of the engineering disciplines, were applied, I would say that a salary of about one third of what they actually get paid would be about right. I`ve worked for about twenty years, on and off, in the Oil and Gas Industry, mainly associated with the North Sea, and to get that kind of salary you had to have a really
responsible job, not just working as a local government officer. I feel really sorry for the majority of local government employees, who, to my reckoning are underpaid.Is Anthony O Sullivan worth ten times the salary of the employee on 16 grand?, I think not. The gap between the average employee and chief executive officers in private industry is widening, though measures are being put in place, but not in Britain, to cap the top salaries. But these men in private industry are risk takers and can lose their job, in local government they are merely administrators, carrying out the policy of the council, yet they seem to be feather bedded with jobs for life. Also, in my experience, when things get tough they bring in "Consultants" to do their jobs, so we pay twice.
To follow my above comment, it has now been revealed that CCBC paid, or rather we, as Counciltax payers did, Hay Group Manangement Consultants some £7000 for advice on senior salaries, and then did not follow their advice. As I said above I find it hard to understand why we have an office block at Penallta full of so called experts in their fields, but when it gets hard they feel they have to call in consultants, to me that sounds like incompetence and they do not deserve the salaries they are getting, in the private sector they would be out the door. I think it would be a better system that rather than have elections, we should insist all prospective councillors should sit an examination made up of an IQ test, plus a general knowledge paper including basic maths, becuase it looks as if the current lot would fail both parts.
Look forward to seeing John Owen's name on the ballot paper when the next elections are held!
Dont hold your breath.