The £175k cost of council staff suspensions
STAFF suspensions have cost Sefton Council more than £175,000 since 2016. More than 30 of the council’s employees have been suspended over the past two years - for reasons including theft, aggressive behaviour, harassment and fraud.
The details are contained in a response by Sefton Council to a Freedom of Information request.
Paying the salaries of 32 suspended staff members cost the local authority £177,676 between April 2016 and July 2018.
The suspensions also cost the council 2,694 working days, with the average length of time employees spent suspended being 84.2 days.
Thirteen people were suspended in 2016/17, with the reasons for the action listed as: assault, inappropriate behaviour, reputational damage to council, contravening statutory policies, safeguarding allegation, data breach, aggressive behaviour and failure to follow reasonable instructions.
Seventeen people were suspended in 2017/18, with reasons listed as: service user allegation, substance misuse, harassment, unacceptable behaviour, breach of confidentiality, data breach, misuse of equipment, negligence, failure to follow management instruction, reputational damage to council, misuse of internet, aggressive behaviour, theft and fraud.
In the first quarter of this financial year, two staff members were suspended - each for an average of 44 working days.
The reasons given for these suspensions were theft and unauthorised use of equipment.
A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “We believe the public is entitled to expect the highest standards of conduct from all employees who work for us.
“We have a code of conduct and expect all staff to follow this as they go about their important roles.
“Sadly, a small number of people fall short of these high standards and we follow a detailed disciplinary policy which sometimes leads to staff being suspended.
“This can be for a number of reasons including when an employee intentionally or recklessly or without reasonable cause acts in a manner which damages, or is likely to damage, the reputation of the council.”