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Councils waste £147m a year paying bills twice, says Eric Pickles Communities secretary says town hall bosses are 'letting money slip through their fingers' as audits of two large councils reveal overpayments to suppliersCouncils are wasting an estimated £147m a year by paying the same bills twice, according to new research that the communities secretary Eric Pickles today said was proof that local authorities "lack respect" for the public money they spend.Pickles presented the research in a speech on tackling waste to local authority leaders at the headquarters of Tory-run Hammersmith and Fulham council today.Islington council in London paid a number of its bill suppliers two or three times at a cost of more than £50,000 to the taxpayer, the research by the credit rating agency Experian revealed.Audits of two large councils uncovered overpayments to suppliers totalling more than £550,000, with invoices showing that some bills had been paid as many as three times. If such audits were repeated across England, the exercise could identify savings of an estimated £147m.Experian conducted the research to promote procurement software it has developed to help organisations identify duplication in the system.Pickles accused town hall bosses of "letting money slip through their fingers". He said that new requirements for councils to publish any spending over £500 online would help stop duplicate payments. Some might see the lost money as "small potatoes" in the context of the UK's multibillion pound deficit, said Pickles.But he added: "Actually, £147m would pay the wages of nearly 9,000 care workers. And more importantly, it betrays a particular attitude. A lack of respect towards public money. And at every level of government, that has got to change."Eric PicklesLocal governmentConservativesPolly Curtisguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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