Waiving hello to £80,000 while not serving up the accounts on time.

For the second year in a row, Folkestone & Hythe District Council, have failed to publish their draft statement of accounts on time.

They failed to meet the statutory deadline of 31 May, 2023 due to “resourcing challenges“. 

At the last Audit & Governance meeting on 20 July, Report Number AuG/23/08 came before the Committee. It stated at 3.4:

It is provisionally anticipated that the Council will publish the unaudited 2022/23 Statement of Accounts on Monday 31st July and therefore on this basis the period for public inspection would commence on the 1st August and end on the 12th August. [NB should be 1 Aug – 12 Sept]

At item nine of the minutes relating to report mentioned above, they state:

Sophia Y Brown of Grant Thornton, introduced the report and advised that district council audits of financial statements for 22/23 would start in October with a view to issuing the opinion in January.

This delay will mean the draft statement of accounts for 2022/23, will be five months late. And that the public inspection rights will be delayed too. 

In Jan 2023, the former s151 officer Charlotte Spendley announced she was leaving the building. Her final day was 17 March 2023. 

On the 20 Jan 2023, Lydia Morrison (pictured) began her first day as an Interim Director Corporate Services  at the Council. The interim contract was procured through Allen Lane Ltd, and was due to end on the 31 July 2023. The estimated contract value was £80,000 [net].

Thirteen days after Lydia had taken up the interim position, Report Number P/22/05 went before the Personnel Committee, held on the 2 Feb. This report provided an update on the senior management at the council.

The recommendations of the report were: 

1. To receive and note report P/22/05;
2. To agree that the Chief Executive, with support from the Chief HR Officer, proceed to source an interim Director for Corporate Services who will act as the s151 Officer, reporting the outcome to Council in due course; and
3. To approve option 2 as the preferred method of recruitment and selection to the permanent Director for Corporate Services (s151 Officer) vacancy.

The committee discussed the anticipated costs of an interim s151 officer, would be £100,000 or thereabouts. 

The Chief Exec, Dr Susan Priest makes it clear:

“we go to appoint an interim director, preferably with some handover time to allow the continuity of work, particularly on the larger projects”    

Then later on in the video she adds:

“for the interim we could get somebody in fairly swiftly” 

but an interim Director of Corporate Services who is also a s151 officer, had already been appointed on the 13 Jan and began on the 20 Jan.

With regards for the search for a Permanent Director – Corporate Services (Section 151Officer), this began eighteen days after the Personnel Committee meting. 

On the 20 Feb 2020 the Council placed the following advert with Jobs Go Public

Applications closed on 31 May 2023, a 37 hour week, with a Salary – £99-110k plus £6,200 car allowance.

On the 29 March Report number A/22/36 states:

The Council has a statutory duty under section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 to have a Chief Finance Officer, otherwise known as a Section 151 Officer. The previous Chief Finance Officer, Charlotte Spendley has left the organisation and Lydia Morrison has been appointed as the Interim Director of Corporate Services.

So in effect even though Lydia had been appointed, she was NOT the acting s151, but the s151 in waiting presumably to allow for “handover time to allow the continuity of work.”

Waivers

The contract for the Interim s151 officer was issued under a waiver process.

highlighted in blue

The process and procedures for waivers are set out at Part 10 of the Council’s Constitution, where it says a contract may be waived –

13.1 At the discretion of the relevant Chief Officer who may proceed in a manner most expedient to the efficient management of the service/Council with reasons recorded in writing.

It was sensible to wave the normal tender process aside as a s151 officer, regardless if they be an interim or a permanent, is a statutory officer which a council needs by law to function, just like the monitoring officer and Head of Paid Service. 

13.4  All waivers from these Contract Standing Orders must be:

a) Fully documented;
b) Subject to a written report in an approved format to be submitted in advance to the relevant Chief Officer which shall include reasons for the waiver which demonstrate that the waiver is genuinely required;
c) Subject to approval in advance by the S151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer, or their nominated deputies, who shall record that they have considered the reasons for the waiver and that they are satisfied that the circumstances justifying the waiver are genuinely exceptional.

and 13.4 states:

All decisions on waivers must take into account:

a) Probity (e.g. the decision should not be influenced by personal gain)
b) Best value/value for money principles

What Dr Priest could have simply said to the Personnel Committee on 2 Feb, was under Part 10/13 of the Constitution, a waiver was issued for the procurement of an interim Director Corporate Services and s151 officer. We’ve appointed Lydia Morrison, via Allen Lane Ltd, at an estimated contract value of £80,000 [net] for six months work. She has began her “handover time” with the current s151 Charlotte Spendley, so by the time Charlotte leaves in March, the interim will be up to speed and can take over seamlessly. Or something to that effect.

It would have been more transparent and open. But then again openness and transparency has long been an issue for Folkestone & Hythe District Council.

The Shepway Vox Team

Dissent is NOT a Crime