Spending watchdog slams fire chief's pension deal

Senior reporter

Tuesday 11 September 2012

A COSTLY pension deal for Scotland's top fire chief has been criticised by public spending watchdogs.

Custom byline text:

Gerry Braiden

Brian Sweeney retired last year as Firemaster at Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, collecting a lump sum pension payment. However, he was re-hired a month later in the same £150,000-a-year job, landing council taxpayers with a potential bill of more than £200,000.

A report by Audit Scotland has now said the deal "would not meet the public's expectations of what is an acceptable use of public funds".Under rules recently introduced, in certain circumstances such as early retirement, chief officers and boards could be liable to pay "unauthorised payment charges" to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. In Mr Sweeney's case the amount owed to HMRC was £206,000.Following a seven-month probe, Audit Scotland has found that members of the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Board were not given sufficient information about the cost implications of Mr Sweeney's deal when they met to approve it.Financial advice from the board treasurer at the time was "inadequate" and failure to consider alternatives to the deal meant "the decision-making process is weakened significantly by the lack of a clear business and financial case being set out for members".It claims that while there is no evidence Mr Sweeney influenced the decision, he was present at the meeting where the retirement and re-employment were approved and that "arrangements to ensure the independence of the chief officer from the process were poor".Defending their actions, the Fire Board said the arrangement saved the public purse in excess of £240,000, that the charge may not have to be paid if challenged and that as yet no money had been paid to HMRC.In his report to the Accounts Commission, which will meet on Thursday to consider what to do, Audit Scotland's Controller of Audit, Fraser McKinlay, said: "No business case is set out in the report for members to consider the options and the financial policy and management implications of these. Through the additional work, I have not found evidence the board discussed these alternative options at its meeting in April 2011."The lack of a robust report and lack of advisory support to the board affects the standard of scrutiny and challenge from members."Strathclyde Fire and Rescue has set aside £236,000 to pay the charge, which would normally be paid by the officer involved. This arrangement will now allow him to collect a full pension at the age of 55.SNP MSP Stewart Maxwell, who previously worked for Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, said: "I welcome this report and the findings it has arrived at. It raises questions about how this situation was able to come about in the first place. I am writing to Finance Secretary John Swinney to see what steps the Scottish Government will put in place to prevent any repeat of this situation." Scottish Conservative justice spokesman David McLetchie said: "It seems extraordinary that suitable planning for a senior officer who gives two years' notice of his retirement was not put in place. Instead, the board has signed up to an agreement which is going to cost the public purse more than £200,000."Labour's justice spokesman, Lewis Macdonald, said: "Scottish Labour expressed our concerns by seeking to amend the legislation that created the Single Fire and Rescue Service to prevent this happening. The SNP voted our proposal down. Public money must always be used with great care and despite assurances given to Parliament by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, there is nothing to prevent this happening again."Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Board chairman Councillor Brian Wallace said: "I would strongly refute the conclusion that Best Value was not obtained or considered in the decision to provide for the potential unauthorised payment charge."

Contextual targeting label:

Finance

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Spending watchdog slams fire chief's pension deal

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED