Nearly 10,000 council employees suspended on full pay
NEARLY 10,000 council staff have been suspended on full pay during the past five years over allegations that include sexual harassment and fraud.
Freedom of Information requests were sent to the UK’s 418 city, borough and district councils, 117 of which provided details on suspensions.
Among suspended employees, there were 402 cases of fraud and theft, 242 of inappropriate behaviour, 123 of harassment, 127 of mistreatment of children, 167 of alcohol or drug offences and 81 of assault.
Birmingham City Council, the UK’s largest local authority, saw the highest number of disciplinary suspensions at 330 over the five years, followed by Glasgow at 283.
The investigation highlights one case, in which a Birmingham worker was said to have been found to have committed “inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment”, but received only a formal written warning.
You often see sweetheart deals where someone leaves a local authority with a payoff, and often that’s not published
Other cases in the council included a member of staff who made unwanted sexual comments and was involved in bullying.
Another threatened colleagues with violence and one spread “malicious rumours” about female staff.
A Derbyshire County Council employee has been on paid leave for more than three years after being suspended for “safeguarding” reasons in August 2014.
And a social services worker for Monmouthshire County Council on a £42,000 annual salary was suspended for 678 days for “management irregularities” and then dismissed.
Harrow Council, in north-west London, suspended a member of staff for 444 days after a conviction for assault before allowing the worker to return with a written warning.
Bob Blackman, a member of the Commons Communities and Local Government Committee and Tory MP for Harrow East, said: “You often see sweetheart deals where someone leaves a local authority with a payoff, and often that’s not published.
“And then they move off to another local authority or public body and they are once again richly rewarded for their work.
“Any payoffs or any arrangements made should be open to full public scrutiny. It shouldn’t be hushed up.”
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Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem spokeswoman for communities and local government, said the problem needed to be “rooted out” as council staff are employed with taxpayers’ money.
She added: “Further light needs to be shone on this problem.
“The lack of transparency is not acceptable, particularly because these are people being employed with taxpayers’ money.”
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said staffing matters and suspensions were the responsibility of local authorities.
He added: “We expect councils to take reports of misconduct extremely seriously and have the appropriate measures in place to handle such issues appropriately and swiftly.”
Among councils that did not provide data was Kensington and Chelsea, the authority at the centre of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Others included Essex, Hampshire, Bristol and Wandsworth which cited a danger of identifying “living individuals”.