Highland Council is still overpaying staff by more than £624k a year as it threatens to take one former employee to court after cancelling a repayment meeting
Highland Council is still overpaying staff – including those who moved on – a year after we broke the news that hundreds of former employees received wages because no one “confirmed their existence”.
The latest figures show that in the 2024-25 financial year £624,000 in overpayments were made – that is up from £614,000 in the year the issue was discovered.
That revelation emerged as the council is threatening one former employee Iain Jamieson with court action over more than £10,000 despite him warning them about the error when it first happened.
• Highland Council overpaid 593 former staff racking up a bill of £863,000 later reduced to £614k
• Bureaucratic blunder saw Highland Council pay one former employee for 33 months AFTER leaving
• Highland Council ‘intimidated’ former staff after they were paid despite leaving, they claim
• Highland Council overpaid past and present staff by £1.2 million with £396,000 yet to be recovered
It took HMRC to force the council to stop paying him and officials subsequently cancelled a repayment meeting and never got in contact again until the legal letter arrived – the council refused to comment.
A number of staff have been in touch to tell us that they have felt both threatened and intimidated by the council as it tried to claw back the cash despite the mistake originating with officials.
Some critics have highlighted the double-standards at work after the local authority squandered £713,884 of taxpayers’ money on the failed Inverness Academy Street project.
That sum included at least £54,173 on legal costs defending the “unlawful” scheme in the Court of Session – yet there were no repercussions for those involved.
In the report, officials said though the “overpayment figure” is £10,000 higher than last year “comprehensive work that has been undertaken” and that this will have “impacted on the level of overpayments recorded”.
It continued: “Members are reminded that the Highland Council’s staff costs for 2024/25 are £457.4 million giving a payment accuracy rate of 99.86 per cent in 2024/25”.
Of those who have been overpaid most still work at the local authority and shifted job within the organisation but 32 per cent of overpayments went to those who departed.
In February of last year, the problem was revealed in an audit report that found the local authority was not checking “to confirm the existence of its staff” – so kept on paying them.
The mistake was thought to have racked-up £863,000 in overpayments but in November that was recalculated to £614,000 with £450,000 still to be returned.
Mr Jamieson is now facing court action as soon as next week with council solicitors to “raise an ordinary cause action in Inverness Sheriff Court”.
He was called to a meeting at headquarters where he was informed that he would be interviewed “under caution” but at the last minute it was cancelled.
Mr Jamieson added that officials acted “as though it were somehow my fault while ignoring that this stems from their own, really basic mistake”.
The letter received by Mr Jamieson stated: “I have been instructed by the Highland Council to raise an ordinary cause action in Inverness Sheriff Court to recover a salary overpayment in the sum of £10,673.36.
“An invoice number 1000814195 was issued on 2 September 2024 and remains unpaid. I have attached a copy of the invoice.
“If the invoice is unpaid or a repayment plan is not agreed by 26 May 2025, the Initial Writ Form G1 will be lodged with Inverness Sheriff Court and served on you by the sheriff officers.
“The Highland Council will seek a decree for payment together with interest thereon at the judicial rate of eight per centum per annum from the date of citation until payment, and to find you liable to the Highland Council in the expenses of the action as taxed”.
When we asked Highland Council how many times officials met with Mr Jamieson about repayment and whether a meeting with him was cancelled and not rescheduled a spokeswoman said only: “We cannot comment on Legal proceedings.”
In response to being asked whether this the correct way to treat staff who tried to warn the council about overpayments to no effect, she said: “The council does have a responsibility to collect such debt and we work closely with affected staff and trade unions colleagues on such matters”.