Suspended council workers have been paid thousands of pounds while suspended from work a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
In one case the FOI found an education officer has paid £140,000 while suspended for more than two years.
Only two thirds of the authorities responded to the FOI requests and many did not include schools, so the figure is likely to be much higher.
The London Evening Standard report:
A London council has paid a senior education officer nearly £140,000 not to work since being suspended two and a half years ago, the Standard can reveal.
Harrow has been paying the wages of the employee — who is on more than £50,000 a year — for nearly 1,000 days while colleagues carry out an investigation into alleged misconduct relating to child protection.
The officer is one of more than 150 council staff in the capital being paid a full salary while suspended. An investigation by the Standard revealed that London’s 33 local authorities have paid out more than £1.3 million since April on the wages of suspended staff.