Council misleading residents over financial exit packages by £323,000

Updated 4 Dec 2024 @ 15:03

Of course you’d believe it when we say Folkestone & Hythe District Council misleads you, wouldn’t you…  

Each year, the Council publish their accounts, first as a draft, then when audited and signed off, the final set of accounts. The council’s current Draft Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 show at page 61 of the document the following table: 

However, what this chart shows you is wrong, very wrong. The true figure for the exit payments in 2023/24 is actually £640,000, which is 101% more than the figure shows. The true figure for 2022/23 is £194,000, not £150,000.

The evidence for this can be found in the Live tables on local government finance. In the data for Local authority exit payments England: 2014-15 to 2023-24, the data for 2023/24, shows our Council’s total value of all exit packages (£) was £640,000, not £317,000 as published, and £194,000 for 2022/23. Also the data shows that 20 people exited the Council in 2023/24, not five as published by the Council.

When the published Council exit package data is compared with the published data by DLUHC for the last ten financial years, the data shows a discrepancy overall of £310,000 in exit payments made. One notes not even the external auditor Grant Thornton have picked up on these discrepancies.

Recently the National Audit Office, the spending watchdog, disclaimed the whole of government’s accounts for 2022/23, for the first time. The reason: Local Government and their failure to produce reliable audited accounts.

Tonight the Audit & Governance Committee meet to discuss the audit of the accounts 2023/24. Let’s hope some eagle eyed Cllr spots this large discrepancy and raises the issue, as spending a further £323,000 on exit packages, and not informing residents should not be happening, especially when the s151 officer, Lydia Morrisson (pictured) – responsible for preparing the accounts of the Council – is being paid £721 a day, and evidently misleading us all.

The Shepway Vox Team

Dissent is NOT a Crime