Taxpayers in Liverpool are forking out huge sums of money to help the city council identify and address its own mistakes.
Liverpool Council is currently the subject of a major government intervention. Following last year's damning inspection report a team of four Whitehall commissioners were appointed to oversee the work and decisions made in the council's Regeneration, Highways and Property Management departments, which had been heavily criticised in Max Caller's report.
That inspection came amid a police investigation that led to a number of arrests linked to the council including former mayor Joe Anderson and former regeneration boss Nick Kavanagh. Neither have been charged and both deny wrongdoing.
READ MORE: Deputy Mayor removed from finance role after council energy bill 'disaster'
That government intervention is being paid for by the council, which is funded by city ratepayers, but it is not the only costly action being taken to try and investigate and fix problems at the Cunard authority. Here we take a look at the various action being taken to sort out the council's issues and errors and what it is costing the people of the city.
The Commissioners
Last June, following a historically bad government inspection report, a team of four commissioners were sent by the government to be installed at Liverpool Council for a period of at least three years. The team, headed up by former police chief Mike Cunningham, have been given the task of overseeing the departments of Regeneration, Highways and Property Management came in for such heavy criticism in last year's report.
That report also brought with it recommendations for a raft of major changes and reforms at the council as part of its improvement journey. These include a major reorganisation of the city's electoral wards, a move to all out elections every four years and a consultation on governance models for the city - all of which cost money.
A council report last year suggested that the series of reforms and work of the commissioners to turn the council around would cost nearly £12m to the city. This would include the commissioners costs and wider recruitment and expenditure within the council to support 'strong and robust governance.'
However, these costs are likely to be higher after the four commissioners were awarded a highly controversial, backdated pay rise at the turn of the year. The ECHO revealed the team of four would be handed a 50% pay hike on their already substantial costs, with the city again asked to foot the bill.
Lead commissioner Mr Cunningham is now being paid a daily rate of £1200, while his team are pulling in £1100 each for a day's work. This works out at £180,000 and £165,000 respectively each year if the commissioners fulfil their 150 days limit. The ECHO also revealed the team are claiming thousands of pounds in expenses, again paid for by the council. In their first six months in Liverpool, from June to November last year, the four government staff claimed nearly £6,500 for travel, hotels and meals.
And we can expect these costs to continue. In a recent interview with the ECHO, Mr Cunningham said he has seen nothing in his first year in Liverpool to suggest he and his team won't be in place in Liverpool for at least another two years.
Energy contract crisis
Liverpool Council's supposed improvement journey has suffered a pretty major setback in recent weeks. As first reported in the ECHO, a series of calamitous mistakes by council officers regarding the authority's electricity contract are set to cost as much as £16m to the city.
The litany of errors, which included officers not informing bosses and politicians their energy supplier was withdrawing from the commercial market before a major new contract was agreed, will see the council lose around £4.5m, while city schools and the fire service are likely to face spiralling costs too.
Deputy Mayor Jane Corbett has already had her finance brief removed as Mayor Joanne Anderson seeks 'full accountability' for the serious mistakes. But that accountability will also come at a cost to the council and its residents.
The council and the commissioners have instructed international accountancy firm Mazars to carry out a full independent audit of the situation, which is expected to report back findings by the end of the month. The ECHO understands this probe will cost around £80,000 to the council. Mayor Anderson has also said she will now appoint an external political advisor to help with budget affairs, it is not clear at this stage how this role will be funded.
External Audit
Yet another probe is taking place concerning problems at Liverpool Council, with yet more taxpayer cash funding it. This one concerns an outside body which will be appointed to investigate historic practices at the troubled authority. The arrests and ongoing police investigation linked to the council have prevented its auditors Grant Thornton from signing off the council's accounts for the financial year 2019/20.
Grant Thornton have since requested an audit, stating that it cannot complete the local authority’s books until an investigation has taken place around whether issues that have dogged the authority were limited to “a particular area in the council or whether the issues are more pervasive.”
The scope of that investigation has now been finalised, with an announcement expected soon about who will lead the probe. The ECHO understands this investigation is expected to cost in the region of £180,000 to the council.
Further problems?
As you can see from the points listed above, Liverpool Council has its fair share of problems and is forking out a lot of money to try and address them. But that list may not be the end of it all.
The commissioners installed at the council were due to provide their latest update on progress being made in April, but asked for a delay. They will now report back to the government on June 10.
It is likely that the energy contract disaster was a key factor behind this delay, with the commissioners reporting 'further problems coming to light' and there will now be real fears that further interventions could be ordered. A statement from the department of Levelling Up, describing the situation as 'unacceptable', will have done nothing to dampen those fears.
