Kate Josephs: Sheffield Council boss paid more than £55,000 to spend 100 days at home

Ms Josephs confessed to attending a lockdown party in her previous job with the Government and has been on paid leave ever since.

This Monday (April 25) marked 100 days since she was placed on leave and with her base salary at just over £200,000 a year, that means she has earned more than £55,000 in that time.

The average yearly salary in Sheffield in £25,187.

It is thought that the huge amount of money spent on her wages while she has not been at work will put pressure on councillors to decide her fate sooner rather than later.

One local businessman said the issue has gone on for too long - and has called for her to be reinstated. The council has brought in an external investigator to report to a cross party committee and help decide what to do.

However, the name of the investigator, its remit and its cost has not been disclosed.

Businessman David Slater said: "As far as Sheffield is concerned she is the right person for the job. I don’t see that a glass of wine changes anything.

“If I were council leader I would have decided whether to back her or sack her within one day. I would have decided to keep her and possibly put her on six months probation. At the moment we are a rudderless ship.”

He also raised the prospect of an expensive pay out if she were sacked.

He added: “If she’s dismissed from a job in which she’s done no wrong, that will be an interesting one for the lawyers.”

Two weeks ago, The Daily Telegraph reported that Kate Josephs had been fined £50 for attending her own leaving do as director general of the Government’s Covid Taskforce in December 2020.

Council leader Terry Fox has urged her to declare the truth but she has not publicly commented.

In an ITV interview last week Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts said she was doing an "excellent job" and had "a lot of cross party support".

Miriam Cates, Conservative MP for Stocksbridge, said she "absolutely agreed".

She added: “We need to consider people who are high calibre and have a lot to offer this country – do we really want to end their careers?”