‘Overpaid’ councillors speak out after payment error
Oldham councillors are demanding more information after it was revealed that some were overpaid due to an administrative error spanning three years. Councillors from various parties, including the Lib Dems and Conservatives, have pledged to repay the overpaid amounts but claim the council has not provided details on how much is owed. The council has commissioned an independent audit to investigate the issue, with results to be made public. Councillors expressed frustration over the lack of transparency and criticized the council's payroll system, which has been rated 'weak' or 'inadequate' for seven of the last eight years.
Oldham councillors have pledged to return every penny of the mystery overpayments they have received for the past three years, but say the town hall is keeping them in the dark about how much they actually owe.
The Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and the Oldham Group all vowed to hand back the cash after the council admitted in July that “mistakes” had been made on annual allowances, yet officials refuse to name either the total sum involved or which members were affected.
Liberal Democrat Sam Al-Hamdani, who sits on the audit committee, said: “I’m angry at the council for putting us in this situation where anyone would think we knew about the [overpayments]. There’s no argument from us that we will pay back the money. We would pay it back in a heartbeat. But no one has told us how much we have actually been overpaid by.”
An independent forensic audit has been commissioned and its findings will be published, but councillors fear the silence makes them “look complicit” in what one branded a council “c***-up”. The payroll system has been rated “weak” or “inadequate” by external auditors in seven of the last eight years, with high staff turnover and repeated IT transitions blamed for repeated errors that have also left some members under-paid for months.
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