Jacquie McGeachie - post #2

payments were missing off the over £500 lists for 2010/11

So Jacquie McGeachie started in Barnet as the interim ( for now ) Assistant Director of Human resources in about January 2009.

Here is a short blog which Mr Mustard has borrowed, with permission, from Mr Reasonable

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It has puzzled me for some time that Barnet Council's Head of HR is nether mentioned in the list of senior officers salaries nor mentioned in the supplier payments. Following the submission of a Freedom of Information request I can reveal that Jacquie McGeachie HR Consulting Limited was paid £140,803.28 in 2010/11. (Although the annual accounts say £133,975 - whichever, it is a lot of money)

I think it would be terribly helpful if all the senior officers who are paid as consultants were listed in the official list of senior officers salary that are included in the council's annual accounts. This is something I shall be taking up with the Auditors, Grant Thornton when I meet them in a couple of weeks.

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Mr Reasonable's meeting with GT did result in interims/consultants who occupy staff posts being listed in the statutory accounts. Well done Mr R.

What is immediately apparent, if you refer back to Mr Mustard's blog of yesterday, is the absolutely massive jump in the amount paid for the services of Jacquie McGeachie by at least £30,000 This time rather than go through an agency Mrs McGeachie formed her own Limited company on 2 January 2009, Jacquie McGeachie HR Consulting Ltd ( number  06781904 ). 

Did she suddenly become a much better HR person because the job was 50 miles further south?

Is London Weighting really that high?

Did Barnet Council really need to pay that much?

Was there no-one in London who could have done the job?

Why do most of the senior management live outside of the borough?

How much has been paid in 2011/12? This much in the first 4 months:-

Timesheet ID	Week ending	Charge £
95457	08/04/2011	2,875
95456	15/04/2011	2,875
95460	22/04/2011	2,300
95455	29/04/2011	1,725
95461	06/05/2011	2,300
95462	13/05/2011	2,875
95463	20/05/2011	2,875
95464	27/05/2011	2,875
97051	03/06/2011	2,300
97052	10/06/2011	2,875
97053	17/06/2011	2,875
97054	24/06/2011	2,875
98410	01/07/2011	2,875
98411	08/07/2011	1,725
98412	15/07/2011	1,725
98413	22/07/2011	2,875
98414	29/07/2011	2,875
Total for 4 months		43,700
Annual equivalent		131,100

It is evident that this is a rate of £575 a day. A good number of 3 and 4 day weeks as well. The whole of HR must be under control. Is she worth it? Come back tomorrow to find out.

Hays have processed the payments since 1 April 2011. This is possibly a desperate late attempt to sidestep Barnet tender or EU procurement regulations as there is a framework agreement in place for temporary help from Hays. You could think of Jacquie McGeachie as a glorified temp, if you wanted to.

Why would someone earning this much money want to sidestep PAYE ( Pay as you Earn tax which applies to employees ) when they are holding a staff position and would still have plenty left in their pocket at the end of the month? Probably because their transport costs are high and if they can convince HM Revenue & Customs that they are a contractor and then set more of these off as allowable expenses against tax ( employees cannot claim any home to work costs against tax ). 

Did Mr Mustard ever tell you that he used to work for the Inland Revenue in PAYE. It was a long time ago but the principle has not really changed. If you are an employee you pay PAYE except in Barnet of course, which is a blog for another day.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard