Today's batch of delegated powers reports reveals the appointment of an interim head of procurement at a cost of £59,792 for a six months contract. Now I know the Audit Committee tomorrow is going to be a difficult meeting given the shortcomings that still exist in procurement but is apppointing yet another consultant to this post going to cure the problem. I thought, obviously foolishly, that consultant Mr Mick Stokes, Assistant Director Commerical Assurance was responsible for procurement but I must be wrong.
On the day that the national press has been criticising Barnet Council for the number of senior officers paid over £100,000 a year, the Council goes and adds another person on the equivalent of £120,000 a year. Not clever timing guys.
The reason that we have had a string of consultants in this role is because by the end of the year Barnet will have handed the responsibility for procurement (and numerous other functions) to either BT or Capita. The problem is that Barnet's senior management have been so focused on bringing in One Barnet Outsourcing that important day to day roles like procurement have been delegated to a string of consultants. In my humble opinion, this is not a fit and proper way to run a £1 billion a year organisation.
Standing up for common sense in New Barnet
Showing posts with label Consultants fees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Consultants fees. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Friday, 17 February 2012
Self Employed Senior Council Officers - Time Is Up For This Tax Wheeze
The big concern about full time staff being paid as consultants continues to rumble on. This morning the Daily Telegraph reports on consultants being paid £350 and £375 a day for their services. Sounds cheap to me compared to the rates that are being paid to the numerous consultants in Barnet.
Barnet’s own annual accounts for 2010/11 identifies 9 senior officers who are paid as consultants, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. I have seen the invoices to some of these consultants and the fees are quite shocking. A consultant who comes in, does a discrete piece of work and leaves moving on to the next project is one thing. But what we have in Barnet are people who have been working full time for over a year in a designated council post.
Since it was discovered that the head of the Student Loans Company was a self employed consultant, this issue has gained some publicity but the Bloggers of Barnet have been going on about this issue for a very long time and have been completely ignored. Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs have a very useful tool on their website - Employment Status Indicator - which helps to establish whether someone is an employee or a self employed in the eyes of the tax authorities and it is obvious to me that many of these consultants are technically employees. As well as avoiding tax this situation creates liabilities for Barnet Council which, according to the HMRC website includes the ability of these consultants to claim redundancy and claim for unfair dismissal.
The time has come for Barnet to put its house in order and regularise the employment stays of its many ‘consultants’ and if councillors or the chief executive won’t initiate this process then it is about time that Eric Pickle did.
Barnet’s own annual accounts for 2010/11 identifies 9 senior officers who are paid as consultants, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. I have seen the invoices to some of these consultants and the fees are quite shocking. A consultant who comes in, does a discrete piece of work and leaves moving on to the next project is one thing. But what we have in Barnet are people who have been working full time for over a year in a designated council post.
Since it was discovered that the head of the Student Loans Company was a self employed consultant, this issue has gained some publicity but the Bloggers of Barnet have been going on about this issue for a very long time and have been completely ignored. Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs have a very useful tool on their website - Employment Status Indicator - which helps to establish whether someone is an employee or a self employed in the eyes of the tax authorities and it is obvious to me that many of these consultants are technically employees. As well as avoiding tax this situation creates liabilities for Barnet Council which, according to the HMRC website includes the ability of these consultants to claim redundancy and claim for unfair dismissal.
The time has come for Barnet to put its house in order and regularise the employment stays of its many ‘consultants’ and if councillors or the chief executive won’t initiate this process then it is about time that Eric Pickle did.
Friday, 11 February 2011
Consultancy Spend
Looking through the supplier payments over £500 I note with interest that in December the Council paid invoices to Agilisys worth £300,718.80. I believe that Agilisys are the council's implementation partner for the One Barnet programme.
Now in the papers for the forthcoming cabinet meeting there is a rather disparaging remark concerning public consultation which says, "Although many correspondents suggested alternatives to reductions in the specific service for which they were campaigning, this was almost all disappointingly vague – back office costs should be cut before frontline services are touched and senior staff pay and councillor allowances should be cut. None of the suggestions came near to meeting the financial challenge facing the council or the need to make substantial year on year savings."
Well, from my perspective, there have been a number of very sound proposals to save money and cutting consultant costs was pretty near the top. I hate being told by the council that there are no alternatives when, to me, there are some very real alternatives to cutting front line services. It's all about priorities and in my humble opinion the council have got their's wrong.
Now in the papers for the forthcoming cabinet meeting there is a rather disparaging remark concerning public consultation which says, "Although many correspondents suggested alternatives to reductions in the specific service for which they were campaigning, this was almost all disappointingly vague – back office costs should be cut before frontline services are touched and senior staff pay and councillor allowances should be cut. None of the suggestions came near to meeting the financial challenge facing the council or the need to make substantial year on year savings."
Well, from my perspective, there have been a number of very sound proposals to save money and cutting consultant costs was pretty near the top. I hate being told by the council that there are no alternatives when, to me, there are some very real alternatives to cutting front line services. It's all about priorities and in my humble opinion the council have got their's wrong.
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