An independent report by law firm Browne Jacobson, commissioned on behalf of Surrey Heath Borough Council, has found that the pay awards issued to Karen Whelan by Moira Gibson were 'unlawful' and 'unprecedented'.
The terms of reference were to investigate the ‘alleged decision by the former Leader of the Council, Moira Gibson, to award and backdate an “Additional Duties Allowance” to the Council’s Chief Executive, Karen Whelan.’
The independent report is 62 pages long.
The key findings from the report are as follows:
- On 16 January 2019 Ms Gibson signed a business case that contained a proposal to pay Ms Whelan, an “additional duties allowance” of £15,000 per annum, backdated to April 2017, which payment was to continue until a ‘full review’ of Ms Whelan’s salary was completed. The back dated sum was to be paid “from within existing budgets” and the subsequent payments were to be “built into the budget”.[P3, para 7]
- Ms Gibson signed two letters addressed to Ms Whelan relating to the decisions to award her additional pay. Those letters created obligations on the part of the Council. They should not have been issued in Ms Gibson’s name. [P18, para 76]
- Those payments were unlawful either for want of authority (because they could not be made pursuant to Ms Gibson’s delegated authority, as they were tantamount to a pay rise for Ms Whelan and as such were reserved to full Council) or because the relevant procedural requirements were not followed in relation to the decisions to make those payments, and those requirements were of mandatory effect. It is not the position that the Council could not lawfully award Ms Whelan the payments – it could have done at the time and could now ratify the decision. In this case the proper procedures were not followed and as such the decisions to make the payments were not lawfully made. [P24, para 104]
Upon publication of the independent report, new Leader of the Council, Cllr Alan McClafferty, has issued a public apology on behalf of the Surrey Heath Conservative group and Council, saying:
"As Leader of the Council I apologise to all residents on behalf of the Council for the findings of the investigation. We acknowledge the failings within our policies and governance and have already taken a number of steps to address this.
"Your elected members and I cannot change what has happened in the past but officers and members alike are committed to moving the council forward and will continue to listen to residents in order to make Surrey Heath a great place to live and work."
Moira Gibson ceased to be Leader of the Council in February 2019 and did not stand for re-election in May 2019.
Karen Whelan resigned on Thursday 9th April 2020 and has since relocated north.
