A building contractor has been sacked for swindling council housing bosses out of £300,000 in an overcharging scam.
The overbilling took place over 17 months and is the subject of an official report to members of Brighton and Hove City Council.
The report – to the council’s Audit and Standards Committee – said: “The council expects to recover the overpayments from the main contractor Mears.”
It added: “The council is working positively with Mears Ltd to identify any other overpayments that may have been made and to prevent any overpayments in the future.”
The report said that the 10-year Mears contract – for responsive repairs, planned maintenance and major works for council homes – “is expected to cost £27 million in 2015-16”.
It said: “Mears Ltd has contractual responsibility for undertaking post inspections of 10 per cent of all completed works and the council’s housing contract compliance team also carry out checks.
“Following an audit of housing repairs in 2013-14 the Housing Contract Compliance Team enhanced its assurance processes by increasing the number of physical post-inspections with effect from February 2015.
“In May 2015 these inspections identified a potential overcharging issue by a subcontractor.
“After initial investigation, the Housing Contract Compliance Team contacted Internal Audit with their concerns.
“Internal audit, working jointly with quantity surveyors from the council’s Housing Team, inspected 46 repairs completed by a single sub-contractor to identify the extent of any potential overcharging and to identify shortfalls in internal controls.
“Further inspections were then carried out by Mears Ltd and council surveyors.
“The audit concluded that mechanisms put in place by Mears Ltd to identify overcharging were not operating as intended.
“There was significant evidence that a particular subcontractor had routinely overcharged Mears Ltd and that these costs had been passed on to the council.
“The audit concluded that the Housing Revenue Account had been overcharged and estimated that the overcharge was in excess of £300,000 for the 17-month period examined.
“The contractual mechanism allows for review of valuations after submission. This takes place on a monthly basis as a matter of course.
“In this case, however, the overcharging was not identified at the time and so would need to be addressed by correcting historical valuations.
I bet I no witch contracter it was as well. Work was suppose to have been done in my sisters house a few years ago was not completed yet this contacter claimed that it had been done when clearly it hadn’t.
Name and shame the plastering contractor
2.4 Million for landscaping round the I360 ( I.SORE )
Hmmm. A few quantity surveyors for the council and Mears not doing their jobs properly! Shameful!