Councils could be overpaying suppliers £150m annually

Credit reference firm Experian examined the account books of a number of local authorities and found that Leeds City Council had overpaid £500,000 to suppliers, whilst LB Islington had made overpayments totalling £55,000. Experian said that if more councils repeated the exercise up to £147m could be saved. Pickles said the findings suggest that local authorities are "letting money slip through their fingers" and explained that the publishing of all spending over £500 online will help tackle the problem. "Now, you might say well, that is small potatoes. Hardly enough to plug the gaping holes in the public deficit. But actually, £147m would pay the wages of nearly nine thousand care workers," he said, in a speech on 13 October at Hammersmith and Fulham Town Hall. "And more importantly, it betrays a particular attitude. A lack of respect towards public money. And at every level of government, that has got to change." The days of "throwing money at problems" are over, said Pickles, adding that transparency, productivity and innovation must be the "watchwords" for the way councils now do business.