THE vast amount of money that Thurrock Council has been paying out for its senior officers in the run up to the authority's financial meltdown remains a mystery.

But tens of thousands of additional pounds per month are now flowing into the pay packets of a phalanx of commissioners and managers drafted to clean up the fiscal mess.

The borough has escaped inclusion in the annual 'Town Hall Rich List' published by the Taxpayers' Alliance as it has not published its annual financial report – which is supposed to be a statutory obligation.

Those figures would highlight who got paid what at the council but because of the tortuous state of the borough's accounts and the ongoing government-ordered investigation, the Alliance – which quotes only published figures – was forced to omit Thurrock from its published scrutiny in its 2023 rich list.

The new figures relate to the financial year 2021-22.

In the year previous to that Thurrock had 13 permanent members of staff earning more than £100,000 a year and a number of senior people in consultant roles on similar rates.

We don't know who got what in 2021-22 - a year which saw the calamitous loss of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Lyn Carpenter - her Thurrock Council bubble burst calamitously.

The then CEO, the now disgraced Lyn Carpenter who quit the role after leading the council into its calamitous financial situation, had a total salary package approaching £250,000 in the year before but the council has not been forthcoming about her last year's salary - and consequently we don't know what she walked away with as she went on garden leave to serve her notice after quitting.

Also earning a big wage, and also now disgraced and having quit his job, was finance director Sean Clark who was paid around £150,000.

Despite government minister Lee Rowley pledging that heads would roll for the catastrophe and warning that there would be dismissals in the top tiers of the council's management, no one else appears to have gone.

And now working alongside them is a phalanx of extremely highly paid local government specialists.

Among them is the CEO of Essex County Council who has been selected to be the lead commissioner for Thurrock.

Gavin Jones reportedly earns £254,453 a year, according to the recently published Rich List, making him the 16th highest paid remunerated council employee in the UK.

It has not been detailed if he is getting paid extra to manage Thurrock's affairs as well as those of Essex. Those figures are unlikl;ey to emerge for at least 18 months.

However, it should be pointed out Mr Jones is well behind the top earners nationally. Topping the list is Guildford Borough Council's managing director who reportedly earns £607,633. This is followed by Sunderland City Council's executive director of neighbourhoods at £573,550 and Robert Steenson, North Lanarkshire Council's executive director (enterprise and communities), at £536,530.

The TaxPayers' Alliance describes the document as "the most comprehensive list of council employees in the UK in receipt of over £100,000 a year in total remuneration in a single financial year."

The costs of the commissioners' investigation into Thurrock and the new officers stepping into leading roles has been estimated to run into millions.

Costs of commissioners from 2 September to 4 December was £76,021, broken down into fees and expenses for Mr Jones of £10,123 and £26,964 for Ms Wood. Other commissioner support for the first 93 days was £38,934.86. Since then, many more officers have joined ranks in Thurrock - the only outgoings being the departures of Ms Carpenter and Mr Clark after they had worked their notice at home.

Much of the money raised by the additional council tax increase approved by the Conservative government – with Thurrock residents having to suffer a 9.9 increase this year - will be mopped up by the cost of the commisioners and the experts brought in.

And it looks inevitable that the tax will go up by the same amount next year.

Meanwhile, a huge range of cuts in services is also expected over the coming months as the new officers get to work sharpening their pencils and slashing borough spending.

There are tough and austere times ahead for Thurrock after minister Lee Rowley delivered new directives to the new team in charge of the borough council.

The lead figure in that task is recently appointed interim managing director Dr Dave Smith.

Thurrock Council says: "He will use his independent position to provide advice and guidance to Thurrock Council on matters concerning infrastructure or regeneration in the local area – for example, Thames Freeport, local transport initiatives. He will also represent Thurrock in any discussions and negotiations on the expression of interest submitted to the Government on wider devolution in Essex.

"Dr Smith was most recently Chief Executive at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority from 2016. Dave has held senior executive positions within local government since 2008, including 7 years as Chief Executive of Sunderland City Council and senior positions at Liverpool City Council and Rotherham Council."

Dr Smith is earning £1,100 per day for up to 260 days per year at Thurrock.

Among his highly paid associates – all selected by Essex County Council and the government, not by elected Thurrock councillors include commissioner Nicole Wood, another Essex County Council senior officer. She is executive Director for Finance and Resources and Section 151 Officer there and now duplicates those roles at Thurrock. Her individual salary package at Essex is shown on the 'rich list' as £198,705.

As well as 'commissioners' other officers have been brought in on an interim basis, among them Interim Chief Finance Officer Gareth Moss - earning £1,300 a day!

Also drafted in a 'chief of staff' is Patrick McDermott – a civil servant from the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities. His salary is unknown.

And there are several other senior draftees with 'interim' titles in the Thurrock recovery 'team', mostly on six figure salaries and seconded to Thurrock on long term contracts.

The Taxpayers' Alliance has been scathing about the lack of information about where public money is being spent – and the growing number of councils, like Thurrock, that are failing to disclose the state of their books.

There has been a significant increase in the number of local authorities failing to publish their annual statement of accounts for 2021-22.

The statutory deadline for publishing draft local authority accounts for 2021-22 was the 31 July 2022. Currently 47 local authorities have failed to publish even draft unaudited accounts for 2021-22. This compares to 25 local authorities who had failed to publish their accounts at the same date in 2022, a serious year on year deterioration.

It means that more than 11.8 per cent of local authorities failed to provide the financial information needed to allow taxpayers to judge whether or not they get value for money.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "With rising numbers of councils failing to publish their annual accounts, including some in financial difficulties, taxpayers are left in the dark on the senior salaries for those in charge."

And as well as being left in the dark about the past, the future also promises tough and unprecedented change in Thurrock. In delivering his damning critique on Thurock government minister Lee Rowley warned of tough times ahead.

Thurrock Council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall has found himself under much criticism for not showing contrition and for 'laughing off' Thurrock's problems.

That has failed to prompt much contrition from Thurrock's Conservatives, indeed the group leader Cllr Mark Coxshall has been frequenlty criticised for playing down the problems and making jokes at council taxpayers' expense.

It remains to be seen how things will plough out in the months and years to come, though today's local elections may give some indication of what the local electorate think of the current administration's performance.