Council Interim s151 Officer earning £721 per day.
A long time ago, but not in Bethlehem, or a galaxy far far away, Folkestone & Hythe District Council were seeking an interim s151 officer. This was set out in report P22/05
Under Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972, imposes a requirement on every local authority in England and Wales to ‘make arrangements for the proper administration of their financial affairs and to secure that one of their officers has responsibility for the administration of those affairs’. This role is referred to as the Chief Finance Officer (CFO). It is a statutory role.
The Council anticipated to have a permanent s151 officer in place after nine months. And the interim s151 was afforded a budget of approximately £100,000.
In January 2023, the Council issued a contract for seven months for a Interim Director Corporate Services, to the value of £80,000 using the waiver process.
Then in February 2023, at the Personnel Committee the Council anticipated any Interim s151 officer would be in place until September 2023. However, twenty months on the Interim s151 – Lydia Morrison (pictured) – is still in place.
According to the 2023/24 accounts, Lydia earned £150,809 (Salary, including Fees and Allowances) and for this she was expected to work four days a week, according to the HR Director Andrina Smith back in Feb 2023. This made her daily pay rate as Interim equivalent to £721 per day.
The Council are currently advertising for a full time Director of Finance (s151). The salary for this post is up to £120,000 per annum (plus additional £6,000 car allowance). So Lydia as an Interim did very nicely as she earned far more than any other Council corporate director in 2023/24, except the Chief Executive, Dr Susan Priest, or any future s151 officer.
Now for that sort of money Lydia has been earning, she as the ultimate responsible officer has not been able to open the accounts for public inspection, missing the deadline of 1 June 2024, by almost six months.
We understand that in December 2024, prospective candidates for the role of s151 officer will be interviewed. When they’ll be in place is hard to say, but we believe they’ll step up to their new role in April 2025, possibly sooner.
Meanwhile, we hope Lydia when she departs the Council, she’ll be buying doubles all round, as earning £721 per day, she can certainly afford it.
The Shepway Vox Team
Journalism for the People NOT the Powerful
It does seem like too much money for the role in question, but don’t forget that compared to a permanent employee, the Council is not paying an Interim person Employee NI; Holiday pay; Pension contributions; other benefits
Oops, I meant to write Employer NI
£721 per day is obscene, especially when she patently cannot do her job properly. How many other officers are overpaid to this degree?
Now we can see why Folkestone & Hythe has one of the highest Council Taxes nationally.
Now is possibly a good time to rebel and withhold our payments until such time as the Council can demonstrate it’s willingness to employ financial restraint and reason.