{"id":826085,"date":"2025-02-11T07:11:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T13:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/11\/council-missed-red-flags-on-contractor-overspend\/"},"modified":"2025-02-11T07:11:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T13:11:54","slug":"council-missed-red-flags-on-contractor-overspend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/11\/council-missed-red-flags-on-contractor-overspend\/","title":{"rendered":"Council missed \u201cred flags\u201d on contractor overspend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"legal_uk_generic-1024x683.jpg\"<\/p>\n

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A Surrey council missed several \u201cred flags\u201d when it appointed a contractor with which it had already massively overspent, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

Warnings from a whistleblower and auditors \u201cshould have been visible\u201d to Guildford Council\u2019s senior management before it later appointed the contractor to a separate contract, law firm Heminsley concluded last month.<\/p>\n

Separately, police are investigating the issues for \u201cpotential criminal activity\u201d, the report for the council added.<\/p>\n

The council appointed an undisclosed housing maintenance contractor to assess electrical systems in October 2021 on a \u00a32.4m contract.<\/p>\n

Less than a year later, the council had spent \u00a39m within that contract. It also paid the firm \u00a36m for work on kitchens and bathrooms, a figure “which broadly matches the…overspend”, which<\/span>\u00a0it had never officially contracted out, the report concluded.<\/p>\n

Heminsley wrote: \u201cWe have not seen any evidence to suggest that there was any meaningful (or effective) monitoring of contract spend, by senior management or indeed anyone, on [this] contract from 6 October 2021 onwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four council departments then signed off a second contract with the same contractor in June 2023. However, an email to the council\u2019s whistleblowing email address in 2022 – referenced in the Heminsley report – alleged the contractor had fraudulently duplicated invoices and performed unnecessary works.<\/p>\n

Heminsley’s report said that an investigation by the council did not find any evidence of fraudulent behaviour.<\/p>\n

A report into the allegations was seen by the corporate management board in February 2023, although one of its findings \u2013 that the average cost of voids in Guildford was \u00a332,000 compared to \u00a34,000 in neighbouring Waverley – was removed from the final version.<\/p>\n

Heminsley wrote it did not consider that there has been \u201can effective and material follow up to the concerns on spend and the contractor\u201d before the second contract was awarded.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, a procurement specialist had by this time raised the \u00a36.6m overspend on the original contract with another procurement specialist in an email. Neither had escalated the issue.<\/p>\n

In January 2023, audit firm KPMG submitted a draft audit identifying a \u201cneed for more stringent tracking and monitoring\u201d of procurement activity within the council, flagging a 150 per cent overspend on contracts on a separate project, the Weyside Urban Village.<\/p>\n

Heminsley\u2019s report also revealed long-standing concerns about the council\u2019s primary contact with the contractor, Officer B.<\/p>\n

Officer B led procurement for both contracts. Officer B had pushed for a special urgency notice both times, which Heminsley wrote was either \u201cdue to a misunderstanding of, or because they were seeking to expedite, the process\u201d.<\/p>\n

The whistleblower report also raised concerns that he had appointed one of their children, Officer D, to the procurement team which signed off the second contract.<\/p>\n

Five council contractors \u2013 including Officers B and D – were fired, and two technical services staff were suspended in September 2023 for their role in the events.<\/p>\n

The police investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Joshua Stein<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Surrey council missed several \u201cred flags\u201d when it appointed a contractor with which it had already massively overspent, according to a new report. Warnings from a whistleblower and auditors \u201cshould have been visible\u201d to Guildford Council\u2019s senior management before it later appointed the contractor to a separate contract, law firm Heminsley concluded last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":826086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27471,2233],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-826085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-council","8":"category-missed"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}