Incorrect Payments by Kent County Council: Should we expect 393 more?

The story of a third person being incorrectly paid by Kent County Council (this time with overpayments totalling £21,000) has been reported today by the BBC.

Now - mistakes do happen. Sometimes, its reasonable to think that something is an isolated incident. Occasional mistakes do happen. Make sure the systems are OK, that the right checks are in place, the money has been recovered, and move on.

But one thing has drawn my eye in that report. Andy Wood - Kent County Council's Corporate Director of Finance - apparently said "KCC efficiently paid 99.1% of staff correctly and on time".

So how many staff are being paid incorrectly and late? Kent claims to have 44,000 staff (although whether that figure is completely up to date, I'm not sure)

0.9% of 44,000? 396.

To declare an interest: I meet Andy Wood in my role as Opposition Finance Spokesman quite regularly. I like him a lot - he's immensely able, good company and straightforward.

But an error rate on staff payments of nearly 400 really can't be acceptable. The reports so far may, it seems, be just the tip of an iceberg.

The Lib Dems have called for this issue to be looked at by Kent County Council's Scrutiny Committee - is this really an acceptable error rate? How much money each month is being incorrectly paid (or even incorrectly not paid, causing staff hardship)? The Council needs to get to the bottom of this - urgently.