As a follow up to Islington Council’s Audit Committee report, it has been said that £55,000 in duplicate payments to council contractors is small beer for a council handling a billion pounds. But it should be noted that the internal auditor’s revelations were based on investigating a sample of just six per cent of the council’s leading suppliers. It is likely that much more overpayment with taxpayers’ money would be revealed if all council payments to contractors were investigated. Indeed, if you multiplied the 6 per cent sample figure you would get a sum nearer to £1 million. And that’s just from their top 500 suppliers.
Good to hear from Deputy Council Leader, Richard Greening, that he does not dismiss such losses lightly. “I do not regard £55,000 as a small amount of money,” he tells the Islington Tribune, “and I can assure readers that council staff are doing everything possible to recover these funds.” Similarly, the highly paid Chief Executive John Foster declares his staff are in the process of “recovering any instances of duplicate payments following a full review of all payments made by the council.” Good for them…
Tim Newark, Islington TPA