Dozens of staff at a Greater Manchester council were suspended over allegations including sexual harassment and drug taking in three years.
Wigan Council has spent £485,805.39 on wages during their suspension, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.
Some 95 members of staff were suspended in the three years from April 2019, including 37 in 2020. Assault, theft and fraud were among the claims unearthed by an FOI request submitted by the by the Local Democracy Reporting Service
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One of the other concerns for the council is the amount of money being spent on paying staff who are suspended. In 2019 they spent £141,779.23 (25 suspended), £170,458.87 in 2020 (37 suspended), £162,487.91 in 2021 (29 suspended), and £11,078.78 (four suspended) so far this year.
Allegations which led to suspensions at Wigan Council between April 2019 and April 2022:
- Assault (verbal and physical)
- Behavioural concerns
- Breach of company policy
- Improper practices
- Data breach
- Dignity at work
- Fraud (Abuse of position and recruitment)
- Sexual harassment
- Safeguarding
- Social media
- Under influence of drugs
- Under influence of alcohol
- Theft
The council have said that they have policies in place to try and make the disciplinary process as quick as possible but factors such as police involvement can increase the time it takes.
Lisa Selby, Wigan Council’s assistant director for HR, said: “Wigan Council is fully committed to thoroughly investigating any allegations of serious misconduct in a timely and efficient manner and as part of these efforts, we have taken steps to ensure that we have both fair and effective mechanisms in place to deal with such disciplinary matters.
“On occasion, our investigations do include the need to suspend staff from work whilst a full investigation is carried out; however this action is only taken following a robust risk assessment to consider whether alternatives to suspension are available. The decision to suspend is reviewed on a regular basis.
“We have taken action to implement internal performance indicators against which our case management timescales are measured, as well as holding regular governance meetings to ensure that we are closely monitoring and managing cases against these standards however on some occasions, delays can occur due to issues outside of our control such as police involvement or sickness absence.
“We are constantly striving to progress and improve our case management timescales to minimise both the impact on staff who are directly affected by suspensions and to reduce the costs associated with such suspensions.”
