Benefit bosses at a local council are making a claim for compensation – against a neighbouring council.
South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) is being sued after the sudden collapse of a deal in which tax-payers could have saved up to £600,000.
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SCDC was in talks with Uttlesford District Council (UDC) to create a shared service to make benefit payments and collect money but changed their decision at the last minute after raising concerns about whether the joint operation would recoup as much cash as predicted.
Problems arose when SCDC demanded they receive the first £350,000 of any money saved by the project. UDC bosses complained that it “would not be a partnership at all”.
UDC, which has it’s headquarters in Saffron Walden, has now contacted the chief executive of SCDC, Greg Harlock, requesting compensation for money spent in the lead-up to the deal’s collapse.
UDC chief executive John Mitchell presented a report to the council members that said no warning was given prior to the deal’s collapse that there were doubts about it’s suitability. In fact, the deal had already been approved unanimously by SCDC’s cabinet.
Commenting on SCDC’s u-turn, he said: “It was effectively a withdrawal by SCDC from a partnership approach and the substitution of an alternative arrangement, which was not proposed by either party at the outset.”
Mr Mitchell added that attempts to secure a meeting to allow UDC bosses to address their SCDC counterparts were rejected, as was a suggestion to allow a third-party review of the deal.
The compensation claim would most likely be for a four-figure sum.