Highland Council says it only overpaid ex-staff £614k not £863k as originally feared as it continues to try to claw money back
Highland Council has reduced its own estimate of how much it paid staff after they had left the organisation – downgrading it from more than £863,000 to £614,092.
In February, The Inverness Courier revealed that Highland Council made 602 over-payments to a total of 593 individuals after they left the organisation because the local authority is not checking “to confirm the existence of its staff”.
We also revealed that one individual was paid a whopping £42,272 net over a 33-month period which was the highest overpayment to one person out of a total of 602 transactions – a situation MSP Edward Mountain said was “beyond belief”.
Angela Mackenzie, pay and HR transactions manager and Elaine Barrie, the head of people said in a report to next week’s audit committee: “The overpayment figure of £863,436.08 (22-23) reported in June was a gross figure. Further analysis has determined the actual net overpayment figure is £614,092.53.”
The council maintains it is tackling the issue and it has already managed to claw back 25 per cent of that figure – the equivalent of £153,523 leaving another £460,569 to go.
