Inquiry after fire chief retires with £500,000 pay-out then gets job back

By GARETH ROSE
Published on Saturday 18 February 2012 12:47

AN INVESTIGATION is under way after Strathclyde’s chief fire officer, Brian Sweeney, received a £500,000 lump sum on retirement, only to be reappointed to the same post a month later.

The Accounts Commission, which monitors how public money is spent, has asked Controller of Audit Fraser McKinlay to carry out new audits and report back.

Mr Sweeney, who worked his way to the top of the service and a reported £150,000-a-year salary after joining as a raw recruit in 1981, is front-runner to be Scotland’s new national fire chief.

He retired last July, getting access to the pension lump sum, and was rehired the next month. His annual pension is suspended for as long as he is in the job.

In its annual audit, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) questioned whether he had been independent of the decision taken by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Board. But the board says PwC’s audit was neither balanced nor accurate and overlooked a saving to the public purse of £241,425 from Mr Sweeney not accessing his annual pension.

Accounts Commission chairman John Baillie said: “We have decided to seek further evidence and clarification from the Controller of Audit on the arrangements made by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue for its chief fire officer’s retirement. We are interested in the process by which the fire board reached its decision.”

Mr Sweeney has said the money did not come from public funds and was the result of him paying into a pension pot. However, the PwC report said more than £200,000 had come from the fire and rescue board.

In its findings, PwC said: “We can see no formal consideration within this process that alternative options, other than retirement and re-employment of the chief officer, were considered.

“In addition, the board has been unable to demonstrate to us that the chief officer was fully independent of the decision-making process. Overall, the level of evidence made available to us does not readily support a best-value decision concerning retirement, re-employment and the potential use of board funds to pay the chief officer’s £206,715 unauthorised payment charge.”

The pay-off at a time of public sector cut backs has angered campaigners.

Emma Boon, from TaxpayerScotland, said: “Taxpayers are sick and tired of the public-sector redundancy merry-go-round.

“It’s appalling they are footing the bill for a half-a-million pay-out, only to see the recipient walk back into virtually the same job just weeks later. It’s extraordinary that Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Board have come to this cosy little deal at a time when they need to cut spending.”

However, the board stood by the decision. Councillor Brian Wallace, its convener, wrote to Audit Scotland in December, criticising the PwC report. “I write to you to express my disappointment that the report fails to provide a balanced or accurate view in relation to the chief officer’s retirement and re-employment,” it said.

He also defended Mr Sweeney’s role in the process. “It has been confirmed that the chief officer was not present at the executive sub-committee meeting held in February 2011, or the board meeting in April 2011, when the issue was discussed, albeit I recognise that the minutes do not reflect this fact.”

Yesterday, Mr Wallace said: “The board has acted with probity and transparency in this matter.”

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Lachie Mhor

Monday, February 20, 2012 at 06:47 PM

This is not confined to Starthclyde Fire and Possibly Rescue Service. A close examination is required of the various retirals that have taken place in Strathclyde Police and at the Scottish Police College. Positions are never advertised and like the Sweeney situation, the incumbents retire one day and resume their role the next day. I am very surprised about the Sweeney appointment as he was in post at the time of the tragic death of a lady in Ayrshire who because of the ineptitude shown by Fire Service Officers was left to die in a disused mine shaft. There is a definite Jobs for the Boys culture in operation as can be seen by the current police reorganization and in our proposed Scottish Valhalla surely everything should be seen to honest and clean.

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cggordon25

Monday, February 20, 2012 at 11:32 AM

As long as the public sector mandarins improve their lot you cannot be too critical of the private sector. It is after all their investments and shareholder return that yields the pot the mandarins feed from. Let's face the facts; the top public sector are well over paid given the perks and conditions that go with the basic salary.

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Drum Major

Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 11:14 PM

Superannuation is something everyone should have. Contributions should come from the employee and the employer. On retirement it is usual to convert some of the pension to a lump sum thereby reducing the pension for the next 30 years. Usually public servants can not be re-employed for 6 months after retirement. In such case pensions are frozen. In non-government jobs there is no restriction on the time for rehiring. The main criteria is that the person did reach retirement age. Compulsory retirement is a thing of the past so there is nothing stopping people continuing to work past retirement. This exercise was obviously to allow him to access his super. He wanted his super, they wanted him to continue in the job past retirement age. Having accessed his lump sum he will continue for as long as they want him or until he has ablolutely had enough of polititions and the media. Obviously if you are not prepared to put in the hard yards to climb the ladder and be seen to be an essential asset to the organisation you are less likely to receive such favourable outcomes. Envy is for those who set themselves low standards which they consistantly fail to achieve.

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Bigfoot

Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 10:36 PM

3Michael When or I hope Independence never comes to Scotland, if it does then this sort of thing will be 1000 times worse, as Alex Salmond and the SNP know about massive fraud on the DWP, which has been going on since 1982, Salmond has the evidence, Senior Solicitors and Advocates that work in the government have done reports on it, the Auditor General and Audit Scotland refuse to do anything about it, so it will become an epidemic if the SNP gets independence, as they will have to allow massive corruption in Government. Police, Crown Office, Legal profession and Judiciary to keep them in power. And the Police State that we have become since 2007 will get and have more draconian powers to enslave and suppress the people of Scotland.

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Michael

Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 08:40 PM

Feels like the same sort of 'mates club' that operates in some company boards, where non-exec directors vote nice salary increases for exec directors who are Non-execs on their boards! I assume independence will instill a more responsible public spirited attitude among public servants.

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Bigfoot

Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 05:56 PM

Public Servants can do as they like, steal money just like the MPs expenses scandal, and get away with it, because anyone paid by taxpayers money supports and helps corrupt Governments stay in power, so all those that support and keep them in Power can do as they like, including being totally dishonest, incompetent and corrupt. including stealing as much taxpayers money as they like. Then they all get an OBE.

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andersm0

Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 02:57 PM

This kind of rapacious mindset of public servants is one of the fundamental reasons western governments are in such dire financial straits. The hands mucking about in the public purse have devolved to a free-for-all. There's growing outrage over the pay and benefits of public servants - they've outstripped the private sector that has to pay for them all.

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