Harrow Borough Council pays employee £140,000 not to work

Harrow Borough Council has paid a former employee nearly £140,000 not to work.

The unnamed senior education officer has been paid £137,000 since he was suspended two and a half years ago.

The former employee has been paid more than £50,000 a year since he was suspended pending a police investigation.

A council spokesman said:  “An employee of the council was suspended pending a 12-month investigation by the police before any charges were made and a subsequent criminal trial took place eight months later.

“The individual was acquitted but following a further council investigation is no longer an employee of the council. The length of the process was largely out of our control and this was an exceptional case.

“Harrow complies fully with employment law and aims to deal with all cases in a timely manner.

“It’s important that we always co-operate with other agencies including the police and the safeguarding authorities.

“Everyone is entitled to a fair hearing in accordance with our disciplinary policy and the law and fairness should not be sacrificed for the sake of expediency.”

Comments(8)

diligaf says...
11:10pm Fri 4 Jan 13

Nothing new here... I worked for them once and there was a supervisor who spent more time of sick than at work. When asked why this was and why said person had not been medically retired even the Manager didnt know and appeared embarrased and didnt know what to say or do.... Harrow Council needs to be investigated from the top down ASAP

OKbyMe says...
12:15am Sat 5 Jan 13

"Harrow Council needs to be investigated from the top down ASAP”"

Why? An explanation has been given which is reasonable. the whole busines is daft of course but is rare. As to your example, how many others?

investigated from the top down ASAP - utterly OTT reaction

DimSum says...
1:03pm Sat 5 Jan 13

Harrow ! Chuckle !

Paul from iharrow.com says...
12:08am Sun 6 Jan 13

Harrow employees take, on average, nine sick days per year - almost twice the average of the private sector.

http://wp.me/p1Vmm0-
3kY

It's an improvement from the average of ten and a half they took in 2007, though!

starbright says...
12:29am Sun 6 Jan 13

Diligaf you are spot on OKbyMe you obviously have no idea what really goes on! This story by the Harrow Times has not been reported upon in its entirety! This has been taken from a story reported in the Evening Standard on wed 2nd Jan, and discussed that afternoon on BBC radio London. I urge everyone to read the article at www.standard.co.uk/n
ews/london/council-o
fficial-paid-137000-
not-to-work-as-inqui
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The story reports about various London Councils since April last year spending £1.3 million on suspended staff. Harrow has the highest amount of suspended staff, 15 in total at a cost of £210,000 to the taxpayer so far! Harrow Council also refuse to give the evening standard details of the senior education officer involved in the article above, why I do not know? This person was charged and reported upon by the Harrow Times in June 2011, with the most serious of crimes. The following January 2012 he was acquitted therefore suspension on full pay surely should have stopped then? The Council carried on paying the individual to stay at home for another year whilst a further investigation took place? Surely we have a right to know what this further investigation was about, and whether it was a further serious allegation against said individual? How do we know that this same person now they have left did not get a pay off which has happened before with others? The Council tried to bury this story before, and are still continuing to do so? Suspended on full pay for 2 and a half years is an absolute joke and a waste of Harrow taxpayers money! The more stories I read and hear about Harrow Council the more I am disturbed about the way they seem to be adept at hiding the truth, and wasting harrow taxpayers money! Susan Hall you are obviously unhappy about this as you state in the Evening standard, so please help us the residents of Harrow to unearth the truth here!

Harrow Rani says...
10:51am Mon 7 Jan 13

Oh dear. Here we go again. Our council taking us for mugs again. I did hear this story on BBC London Radio and was furious to see that Harrow seems to have cornered the market for using our taxes to pay off their own. If Starbright is right, and she seems to have a lot of information, then we should all be very concerned. Why on earth does this person deserve to be paid even after acquittal? I too want to know what the further police investigation ( during which period he was still paid) was about. There is nothing new about Harrow Council burying such stories. I rememeber there was a story last year year about a head teacher irom a school in Harrow Weald who was supsended following investigation into mis appropriating funds. Never heard what happened, suffice to say she is no longer at the school and given Harrow Council's previous record, I would suggest that a healthy compromise, at the tax payers expense was reached. Public funds are being used for buying off a bad employee rather than sacking them and ensuring that they are properly held to account. I support any move to audit this council by some independant body to ascertain whether this council is using the tax payers money in the most appropriate way. I was never a fan of the Tory run Council but have to admit, they appeared more in control of our finances than this current group of jobsworths. If Harrow Times does not delve deep to find out the real truth, then I am hopeful that The Evening Standard or another national newspaper will. We deserve some sort of explanation and our Council cannot hide the
As for OKbyMe - you are exactly the type of Harrow Resident that makes it easy for the council to mis spend our money. The whole notion that becuase they have provided an explanation, it must be true, beggars belief!!!

starbright says...
7:59pm Mon 7 Jan 13

Harrow Rani you are closer to the truth than you perhaps realise and am in agreement with your comments. I cannot believe that more people have not commented on this story in view of the seriousness of it all. Money being wasted if that is not bad enough, and the fact that if people care to read the evening standard article and the Harrow Times June 2011 story on said school above, they will see why I and many others are concerned about the further investigation undertaken by Harrow Council! We have a right to know whether this further investigation included any other allegations against the senior education person in question? Total apathy by some people, that is why Harrow get away with it time and time again! I urge the Harrow Times to investigate this more thoroughly, and suggest they approach Susan Hall who is obviously not happy about this at all!

harrow1 says...
9:14am Tue 8 Jan 13

This highlights the sheer waste of money that occurs frequently in the public sector. Some of what occurs would stagger you.

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