Two top officers at Castle Point Council were handed more than £700,000 in redundancy money, despite potentially being implicated in the scandal over improper payments to their boss.
The pair, whose integrity was questioned in an audit report late last year, were allowed to walk away with such massive pay-offs that they occupy two spots on a new list of England’s top ten highest-paid council officials.
Lobbying outfit the Taxpayers’ Alliance this week published its annual “Town Hall Rich List”, based on data from councils’ official accounts.
Former Conservative council leader Andrew Sheldon has blasted the sums paid as “sickening”.
Chris Mills, Castle Point’s former strategic director of resources, was the second-highest paid official in England in 2023/4, making £565,000 – thanks to a whopping £469,000 redundancy pay-off.
Ms Mills was also the council’s head financial officer – known as its Section 151 officer.
The monitoring officer (head legal officer) was Andrew Roby Smith – who occupies the sixth spot on the Taxpayers’ Alliance’s “rich list”.
It says he received £339,000 in 2023/4, including a £236,000 redundancy pay-off.
An audit report quietly published on the council website late last year named Ms Mills as having signed off a massive payment to deceased chief executive David Marchant, which the council is now suing to try to get back.
The Echo revealed last month that some top officers had their pay packets padded out under a secret scheme – hidden from elected councillors – which allowed them to triple their holiday allowance, then claim extra pay for untaken holiday.
Marchant paid himself £59,240 under the scheme over eight years.
The council voted last year to sue his estate to try to get it all back – but wrote off more than £870,000 paid to others, who have never been named.
External audit firm Ernst & Young wrote in a report last year that they could find no evidence she had properly assessed any of their performances.
Auditors noted a “lack of evidence of any challenge posed by the then Section 151 officer and the then monitoring officer on the legality and regularity of payments made relating to annual leave and performance payments before approval.”
Auditors said they had to issue “disclaimed” accounts – meaning they would not vouch for their accuracy or reliability – because they couldn’t rely on financial information supplied.
“Considering that the individuals approving such payments were two of the most senior statutory officers responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the statement of accounts, this calls into question management integrity and the reliability of the financial statements they have prepared,” auditors wrote.
“We consider that the impact on the financial statements could be pervasive considering that the officers involved in the unlawful transactions remained in the council’s employ throughout 2020/21 and therefore had access to systems and financial records. The then Section 151 Officer retained her position until August 2023.”
Andrew Sheldon, who had just become council leader when Marchant died and his unlawful “untaken leave” payments were discovered, said it was an “utter disgrace” that residents had paid “six-figure golden goodbyes” to the officers at a time when their council tax was rising.
“The leadership of the independent parties that run the council would have known which senior officers were involved in the payments before the redundancies were agreed,” he said.
“They would have had the initial report from the internal audit investigation I ensured was started before I left the council – and yet the council still paid these redundancies anyway.”
Council leader Dave Blackwell said the redundancies were “handled in full accordance with our agreed standard redundancy procedures and our legal obligations”.
“The reported figure includes pension contributions and other components of the redundancy package provided under our contractual terms,” he said.
“Every element of the arrangement was determined using the same rules applicable to any employee in a redundancy situation.”
The council refused to comment on Mr Sheldon’s arguments and would not answer the Echo’s questions about whether Ms Mills could have faced disciplinary action.
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Two south Essex council officers handed more than £700k in redundancy pay-offs – Southend Echo
