For once, Liverpool and its council were hoping to stay out of the headlines.
The city was a notable absentee from last week's local elections. One of the ramifications of last year's historically bad government inspection of the city council was a new system of elections being brought in, starting with a set of all out votes next year.
Over the water in Wirral, there were worries about a close-fought battle between the Tories and Labour and how things would be run, all over the country town halls were preparing for gains, losses and some difficult stories. Liverpool was hoping for a quiet week.
But anyone who has spent any time watching Liverpool Council will know that rarely happens. As the council's cabinet and senior officers filed into the town hall for a meeting on Friday morning, there was concern etched on a few faces, most notably the chief executive, Tony Reeves.
Mr Reeves has been credited by many, including the government, as being responsible for starting the work to uncover years of problems and failings at Liverpool Council. It was his initial reports that lifted the lid on issues with the Cunard's regeneration, property and highways departments that would instigate Max Caller's four-month inspection, its damning findings and the imposition of Whitehall commissioners in the city for three years.
READ MORE: Accountants appointed to investigate Liverpool Council's £16 million energy contract 'disaster'
Mr Reeves was right to look concerned. Halfway down the agenda of that morning's cabinet report was an item that at first may have looked pretty innocuous, but in reality threatened to plunge Liverpool Council into another existential crisis.
The title of the agenda item, 'procurement of electricity supplier, amendment to previous cabinet decision' in no way does justice to the Pandora's box of problems within it. And neither, really, did the initial discussions at the meeting.
Liverpool's cabinet meetings tend to pass pretty quickly and anyone who heard deputy mayor and finance chief Jane Corbett discussing the Item B on the agenda may have been forgiven for not taking much notice. She told the meeting current rises in energy bills and utility supply costs were a concern for all and the council's move to a new energy supplier would offer some certainty for the coming months.
Cllr Corbett said it was 'crucial the council acted responsibly to mitigate against failures' and admitted there were clear lessons to be learnt from the process to date.' No other cabinet member responded or commented on the item and neither did the mayor. This would later change dramatically.
Then came the intervention from Mr Reeves, who offered a sincere formal apology to the mayor, the cabinet and the people of the city for the circumstances and events which had led to this report being required and the context for additional costs for energy being faced by the council. He added the report and the circumstances had been discussed at length with the commissioners and an independent external audit had begun. So now things were getting serious.
The report, as was first revealed by the ECHO, really needs to be read to be believed. It charts a remarkable catalogue of mistakes, failures and communication bypasses that have somehow led this cash-strapped council, already under government intervention, to add a further £5 million onto its electricity bill and potentially cost the city, its schools and its fire service a total added cost of £16 million.
The mess surrounds the council's previous electricity contract with Scottish Power, which ran from June 2018 until May of this year. The deal concerned the supply for the council's own buildings and estate as well as the city's maintained schools and the fire service. The council had an option to extend the deal for another year until next May.
After meetings held in the autumn, a report presenting a contract extension was prepared for a cabinet meeting in January 2022. But the report had to be pulled as it had wrongly covered the council's gas and electric supply. The gas contract had already been renewed back in October, the mistake - the first of many - led to delays.
That incorrect report was redrafted in time for the March 4 cabinet meeting, but with one even more glaring error. The day before the meeting, Scottish Power had told council officers its industrial desk was closed and it would not be supplying the commercial market, with no new contracts being priced or agreed. This meant the council would automatically be placed on its 'standard variable' contract, resulting in a potential doubling of prices.
Incredibly, despite an urgent meeting being held between the company and officers on the morning of March 4, no one made the mayor or the cabinet aware of the dramatic change to the situation and the cabinet report was agreed. The lack of notification meant no contingency plans were therefore discussed that would have allowed the cabinet to take advice and discuss alternative options.
Even the Chief Executive wasn't told. Tony Reeves had to wait until the government-appointed commissioners informed him of the crisis on March 17. Deputy Mayor finance chief Cllr Corbett would not be told until March 23, when an officer returned from leave. The council was then left scrambling to try and organise a new deal with government-approved Crown Commercial Service, which it is currently working on.
The financial implications of this litany of failures are huge. It means a city council, hit by £540m in budget cuts since 2010 and that has just agreed a controversial package of £20m savings, has just opened up an immediate £4.5m black hole in its coffers. It means a wider hit to the city of up to £16 million, with hard-pressed schools and the fire service dragged into the crisis.
Of course, there are political implications too. This is a council being watched like a hawk by government that is supposed to be a year into an improvement journey after the dark days of last year's inspection report. One can only imagine how this saga will be reported back to Whitehall in the commissioners' next update.
While it is clear from the report the initial errors were made by officers, there is anger building about how this has been dealt with politically and these feelings boiled over at an explosive and bad-tempered Labour group meeting on Monday evening. The close-doors meeting was described by one councillor as 'horrendous' and 'the worst meeting we have had,' as backbenchers lined up to demand answers and accountability from those in charge. Some were furious that they had only found out about the situation in the pages of the Liverpool ECHO.
One former cabinet member called for those in current positions of power to consider their positions, Cllr Corbett came in for direct criticism along with senior officers. There is a growing feeling that someone will have to carry the can for this most costly of catastrophes.
One councillor present at the meeting said: "People are really angry about this, it is a massive f*** up that has been compounded by poor communication." One member suggested the whole recent budget process, which saw a controversial £20m packaged of cuts agreed, including an unpopular new green bin charge and money pumped into the council's resources, 'was built on a lie.'
Others felt some in the group were on manoeuvres, ready to use this clear disaster to position themselves for leadership challenges ahead of next year's elections. Whatever the motivations - this was a Liverpool Labour group once again in crisis and at war with itself.
Naturally, the opposition were circling as well. Lib Dem leader Richard Kemp wrote to the commissioners to ask if a new, emergency budget may be required, stating councillors were not in full knowledge of the city's finances when they voted on the plans back in March. You don't need a history degree to know of Liverpool's difficult history with budget setting processes.
That original budget process was a bruising one for Mayor Anderson and her team - and a costly one. Labour lost six councillors over the plans, with five joining an eight-strong team of independent councillors sitting in opposition to the ruling group. The Liverpool Community Independents, as they are now known, did not hold back when it came to this latest debacle.
Group leader, Cllr Anna Rothery said: "It is not good enough for senior officers and Cabinet members to express shock that they did not know. It is their job to know. In such circumstances people usually consider their positions. This was an avoidable disaster and leading officers and elected members need to take full responsibility. That means the chief executive and cabinet member responsible considering their positions.”
If there had been concerns that not enough discussion was given to the matter at Friday's cabinet meeting, Mayor Anderson's statement on Monday was a change of pace. She confirmed external auditors would be appointed to investigate the matter and made clear she was seeking 'full accountability' and 'appropriate action.'
Those auditors have now been appointed. International accountancy firm Mazars have been instructed by the commissioners and the council to carry out a full investigation into the energy contract mess. The audit will be completed by the end of May and the findings will be made public.
One aspect the auditors will be looking at is how the mistakes made within the Cunard will impact the wider city, particularly some Liverpool schools. Speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside on Wednesday, Cllr Corbett said the cash-strapped authority would have to dip into its own reserves to fund the near £4m hit to schools. She said: "We can't expect the schools to pick this up, it was our mistake, this is children's education we are talking about here."
Describing the situation as 'an absolute disaster', she was asked whether she would consider her own position, to which she answered: "The mayor picks me, I'm deputy mayor, that's up to the mayor." Asked for her view on where the problems came from, she pointed the finger at officers, stating: "On March 4 I was chairing the cabinet meeting and just before the cabinet meeting, the officers were told Scottish Power said no, we can't give you a contract. At that time, what they could have done is put a piece of paper in front of me and say this report doesn't work anymore, but they didn't, so that needs to be looked at, what on earth was happening there."
That's a fair question, but Cllr Corbett is facing more questions herself. The report makes clear she was eventually told of the situation on March 23, people will want to know what actions she took and who she told between then and the May 6 cabinet report, was the mayor informed of the situation? Why did some of the cabinet not appear to know anything about such a colossal mistake before last week's meeting?
The Chief Executive Mr Reeves found out about the impending disaster on March 17. There will be questions about what actions he took in the nearly 7 weeks between that point and the meeting in which he offered an apology. His finance chief Mel Creighton is also likely to face a grilling. It is her title on the explosive report and as the council's Section 151 officer she has overall responsibility for the council's financial affairs.
There is a feeling from many quarters that someone must be held accountable for these mistakes which will cost the taxpayers of Liverpool many millions of pounds. The next few weeks will be very uncomfortable ones for a number of the council's most senior figures.
