Councillors lose free mobile phones after bills scandal

Doncaster Council said it was set to save £100,000 a year on its bill after officers carried out a root and branch review of its policy, with new, stringent limits being placed on mobile use.

The borough’s elected mayor, Peter Davies, was furious to find that both council workers and elected members had been making use of council devices for personal calls, running up huge bills.

New guidelines remove free access to mobile phones for councillors, who have been told to use their own phones, and strictly reduces use by officers and other staff.

The council said that over the next few weeks, an alternative way of securely accessing council email via personal smartphones will be made available to councillors.

According to officers, the new policy has resulted in “better management of the need and use of mobile devices, working to get better tariffs and raising awareness amongst staff of the costs of using them.

Mayor Davies said: “I’m a great supporter of this policy, and I also fully support there are people who find it useful to have these devices.

“However, equally in the past we’ve seen some dreadful examples of over use and misuse of mobile phones, blackberries and laptops costing the authority somewhere in the region of half a million pounds.

“This is totally unacceptable in the current culture and anyone who is keen on protecting services should see this as a wasteful expense.

“I have my own mobile phone which I use extensively, but pay for myself. This is what I deem is right.

“I believe it is quite possible for members to fund these devices on their own accord, and not as a cost to the public purse, which matters more than ever these days.”

“This policy is a big step in the right direction, but there is still more to be done. I hope we can achieve an even better contract deal in the future through looking at joint procurement work with some of our Yorkshire and Humber partners.”