£750,000 bonanza for crisis council's experts

CRISIS-hit Doncaster Council has paid out a total of £750,000 for four consultants to run its heavily criticised children's services department, the Yorkshire Post can reveal today.

Two were paid at a rate of 1,100 a day – equating to salaries of nearly 290,000 per annum, double the rate paid to the acting chief executive for running the entire authority.

The council said it had been essential to secure the services of experienced consultants but one leading councillor described the spending as "outrageous".

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The leader of the Independent Alliance, Garth Oxby, also said the spending represented an "over-emphasis" on senior staff when the council was still struggling to fill social worker vacancies. The 750,000 was paid to four consultants over a period of just over two-and-a-half years, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Doncaster Council's record for protecting vulnerable young people has come under fire after the deaths of seven children known to the authority since 2004.

Its use of consultants at a senior level in children's services goes back to July 2007 when Jim Crook was made interim director of children's services. He was paid a daily rate of 845, excluding VAT, up until March 2008 under an agreement with recruitment consultant Veredus.

Mr Crook was replaced by Dr Paul Gray at a rate of 1,105 a day, excluding VAT, after being appointed through another recruitment consultant, GatenbySanderson. He was paid the daily rate for just over a year, until the end of March 2009.

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At that point, Gareth Williams was appointed as director on secondment from Leicestershire Council as part of the Government-ordered intervention.

Mr Williams then appointed Nick Jarman as an interim deputy director through a company called Windsor Transformational Educational Services. Mr Jarman was paid 800 per day, excluding VAT, between April and September last year.

He then stepped up to interim director and was paid at the same daily rate between October and the end of January this year.

In September last year, Mr Jarman appointed Robin Hooper from consultants Enterprise Prospects to become deputy director of children's services at a rate of 1,100 per day, excluding VAT. The council said this appointment, which lasted up until the end of January, "was dealt with as part of the intervention process in agreement with central Government".

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At the time, Mr Hooper was already employed on a consultancy basis as the authority's interim director of resources – a role he relinquished.

The council said all the daily pay rates were agreed with the consultancy firms who provided the staff and the payments were made to those firms.

Coun Oxby said: "I find these figures quite outrageous. To the people I represent, this kind of money is, in part, obscene.

"There is too much emphasis on paying senior people. I don't think the huge sums have produced results commensurate with the money we're paying."

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Doncaster Council's acting chief executive, Tim Leader, said: "During this time it was essential to source experienced consultants in order to address immediate leadership of children's services. These appointments have provided us with valuable expertise and support and we continuously monitor this process to ensure we get the best value for money."