300 council staff off on full pay after suspension One worker got only a formal warning for sexual harassment
MORE than 300 Birmingham City Council staff have been suspended for disciplinary matters in the last five years, including for sexual harassment.
Nearly 10,000 council staff have been suspended on full pay during the same period across the UK over allegations that also include fraud, it has been reported.
About 2,000 local authority employees have been suspended while still receiving their full salary each year since, according to reports.
Freedom of Information requests were made by The Times to the UK’s 418 city, borough and district councils, 117 of which provided details on suspensions.
Among them were 402 cases of fraud and theft, 242 of inappropriate behaviour, 123 of harassment, 127 of mistreatment of children, 167 alcohol or drug offences and 81 assault.
Birmingham City Council – the UK’s largest local authority – saw the of of highest number of disciplinary suspensions at 330 over the five years, followed by Glasgow at 283.
The investigation highlights one case, in which a Birmingham City Council worker was said to have been found to have committed “inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment”, but received only a formal written warning.
Further details of this suspension were not disclosed by the paper.
A Derbyshire County Council employee has also been on paid leave for more than three years after being suspended for safeguarding reasons in August 2014, while a social services worker for Monmouthshire County Council on a £42,000 salary was suspended for 678 days for “management irregularities” and then dismissed.
Bob Blackman, a member of the communities and local government committee and Conservative MP for Harrow East, said: “You often see sweetheart deals where someone leaves a local authority with a payoff, and often that’s not published. And then they move off to another local authority or public body and they are once again richly rewarded for their work.
“Any payoffs or any arrangements made should be open to full public scrutiny. It shouldn’t be hushed up.”
Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for communities and local government, said the problem needed to be “rooted out” as council staff are employed with taxpayers’ money.
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said staffing matters and suspensions were the responsibility of local authorities, adding: “We expect councils to take reports of misconduct extremely seriously and have the appropriate measures in place to handle such issues appropriately and swiftly.”