On April 26 this year I wanted to answer a very important and simple question – how many people working for public bodies in Wales are currently suspended at the expense of the taxpayer? The thing that prompted this research was the fact that several very senior police officers in Gwent Police had been suspended for more than three years on full pay. At a time when public services are severely stretched, every penny counts and it seemed a valuable piece of public interest journalism to find out the amount people the taxpayer was paying to do nothing.
So I decided to email every single council, police force, health board, and fire service in Wales to ask them the following questions:
How many members of staff are currently suspended on full pay within your organisation?
Of these suspended staff please break down how many have been suspended for more than three months.
Of these staff how many of them have been suspended for more than a year?
How many of these suspended people earn under £25,000 a year?
How many of these suspended people earn under £50,000 a year?
How many of these suspended people earn over £50,000 a year?
