A Powys County Council employee was paid more than £28,000 in overtime over a 15-month period, an internal audit has revealed.

The findings were presented to the council’s Governance and Audit Committee on Wednesday, July 16, following a review by the South West Audit Partnership (SWAP).

The report found that the council spent £2.84 million on overtime during the period in question, with £2.24 million of that total paid out in the 2023/24 financial year - around one per cent of the council’s total wage bill.

Further analysis showed five employees received more than £20,000 in overtime, 39 were paid between £10,000 and £20,000, and 92 received between £5,000 and £10,000.

SWAP principal auditor Kevin Price said: “The council did not operate under a single overtime policy, which meant the existing rules were fragmented and inconsistently applied across the board.”

He explained that overtime needed to be agreed in advance by managers.

Mr Price said: “We found this process was often informal and lacked proper documentation.

“Noticeably, there were a large number of employees that received substantial overtime payments which suggested possible staffing pressures and raised concerns on the impact of long working hours on employee wellbeing.”

He stressed that all overtime had been approved before payment was made.

Cllr Pete Lewington (Conservative) said: “I do find it a concern that we have five employees earning over £20,000 in overtime. I’m pleased to see that the council’s fraud team will be reviewing this as it doesn’t seem quite right to me.

“As well as getting the controls framework correct and operational around this, what is the plan to reduce this unacceptably high level of overtime?”

Cllr William Powell (Liberal Democrat) was concerned that the council is “routinely becoming reliant” on staff willing to work overtime and that this is storing up problems in the future.

He called for a further review into the wider issues of overtime at the council.

Committee vice-chair and lay member John Brautigam questioned whether the findings pointed to a skills shortage within the council’s workforce.

Mr Brautigam: “In my experience, it causes those that have the skills to work extraordinarily long hours.”

Cllr Graham Breeze (Powys Independents) said: “Any action we are proposing to take needs to be a matter of urgency - a serious look is needed.

“I’m shocked that it’s allowed to happen at this level.”

Head of workforce and organisational development Paul Bradshaw said: “The main thing for me is that whenever anyone works overtime, they are not paid until the manager authorises it.”

He said flexibility to allow overtime needed to be built into organisational structures to meet demand, and suggested other councils were likely to report similar levels of overtime payments.

Mr Bradshaw said: “I would expect to see one per cent overtime, possibly more, so I was reassured.”

He added that a new computer dashboard was being introduced, allowing senior staff to view overtime data, monitor, and "drill down" to understand why it is required.