The BBC’s investigative radio programme, File on 4, will tonight report on its findings about senior council officials being paid through Limited companies, a la Dave Burbage Consulting Ltd at Isle of Wight council.
The BBC have sent Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to 400 councils across the UK, discovering that “Almost 100 permanent posts at local councils are being filled by people paid through limited companies.”
They also have found that “dozens of high-earners are allowed to make their own tax arrangements rather than be paid through the PAYE system.”
“It’s not right” says Margaret Hodge
Margaret Hodge, the chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, told the programme that her committee would pursue the issue – “Where you are a public servant it’s not right you should be paid in a way that avoids tax. If someone sets up a scheme to avoid paying tax, that is income foregone to the public purse.”
In a 1,700+ word statement about Dave Burbage and his Limited Company, the Chief Executive of the Isle of Wight council, Steve Beynon, said “Dave meets all of his tax obligations.”
The programme is on BBC Radio4 tonight (Tuesday) at 8pm and Sunday, 18 March at 5pm.
Update: Embedded the podcast. [audio:http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/fileon4/fileon4_20120313-2100a.mp3]
Image: Tax Brackets under CC BY 2.0
