The watchdog for local government finance launched an investigation into why a council worker had been paid £56,000 to do absolutely nothing for four whole years
Winston Brewster had been suspended on full pay in 1984 because of a number of rows between himself and Hackney Council.
Although he had been reinstated by a disciplinary panel two years before in 1986, he had been sat at home since then because he hadn’t been designated a job.
Opposition Tory councillor Joe Lobenstein described the council’s inability to redeploy Mr Brewster as a “scandalous waste of public money”.
He had asked the town hall chief executive Pamela Gordon to check how many more staff were on full pay during lengthy suspensions.
“I have found this case could just be the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
A council spokesperson said that “mutually agreeable terms” had been agreed between the council and Mr Brewster, who had since quit.
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