Lower Tax Bill

picture credit: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/

The question is "Is the new Interim Assistant Director of Customer Services" paying PAYE like any other employee would?"

Roll back to May 10

East Sussex County Council

That was when Bill joined ESCC as Interim Director of Governance and Community Services and he stayed there until July 2011. Mr Mustard looked on the over £500 lists published by ESCC, they give slightly more detail as to the category of spending but less in that there isn't a payment date. All Mr Mustard could find in those 15 months was a payment under ref 45005338095 of £780 which either slipped through the net or was some sort of expense claim. It is very odd that payments to Jacquie McGeachie at Barnet Council also failed to appear on spending lists ( as Mr Reasonable found out ). This sort of expenditure seems to just fall off lists; it's not as if councils are trying to hide anything, is it?

If we look at the published accounts of ESCC for the year ended 2010/11 we find reference to Bill's post and that £125,119 was paid in that year and that Bill was "engaged via an agency". ESCC coyly didn't say which agency.

It is apparent that the payments ended up with Murphy's Solutions Ltd, in which Bill Murphy holds 100% of the shares, as the company was only formed in April 2010 and so the figures on the balance sheet are unlikely to relate to any other source of income.

Murphy's Solutions Ltd Accounts to April 11

Now to Barnet Council

Mr Mustard has been making various enquiries under FOI. One of these was as to who was paid on the payroll and who via Hays. Bill Murphy is paid by Hays. Non PAYE staff, like the £1,000 a day Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Travers, are no longer paid directly to their service company, in his case Halliford Associates Ltd but via Hays. This makes the payments harder to follow. Bill Murphy is paid by Hays and so they are probably paying Murphy's Solutions Ltd (although Hays are not automatically subject to FOI so Mr Mustard can't easuily find out).

Conclusion

Bill used to be what Eric Pickles MP would call a "Town Hall Tax Dodger" and he probably still is, at least until 1 April 2012 when Barnet Council are likely to change their arrangements once again.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard