The eagle eyed
Mr Mustard has passed on some very useful information to me. I have trawled through the supplier payments but this is one I missed. A company called Renouval Limited was paid £44,325 between July and September 2010 and £31,248 between October and December. The director of this company is a Mr Chris Palmer. Could this be the same Mr Chris Palmer, who is communications advisor at Barnet Council. How many more of the senior management people at Barnet are self employed consultants?
Oh! Goodness me, could that also be the same Chris Palmer who banned Mrs Angry from the LBB facebook page for TWO MONTHS for ssh daring to make a political comment that was not in line with correct One Barnet thinking?
ReplyDeleteWell spotted Mr Mustard. A number of questions need to be asked:
ReplyDelete1. How many people working for the council are self-employed ‘consultants’?
2. What is the length and terms of their contracts?
3. Why are they not employed as employees on PAYE?
4. Were they hired after a normal recruitment process open to all, or merely appointed by a more senior officer?
4. Has HMRC approved theses arrangements? Unless these ‘consultants’ are also providing services for other companies, then there should be an investigation into their legal status. HMRC take a dim view of consultants who only work for one client.
And who will pay the back tax and the fine and interest when the PAYE inspectors come knocking, which they will soon. I bet it will be the Council Tax Payer. It should be the executive who signed these off in the Finance Department, probably the Statutory Finance Officer. Oh dear, I see a snag here, he is a contractor. PAYE is a statutory tax isn't it ?
ReplyDeleteSuppliers of services over the total value of £156,442 must be selected through a EU compliant process (OJEU). I'm sure this will be undertaken before these contracts breach this limit. The decisions, in any event, will be available in a Council DPR report which will be published. All above board.
ReplyDelete