Liberal Democrats call for Oldham Council to immediately correct overpayment to councillors

Oldham Council have confirmed that councillors have been wrongly paid since 2022 but have yet to confirm by how much or who is affected.

Liberal Democrat Group Chair Councillor Alicia Marland said: “Oldham Council have contacted all party Leaders to confirm that all or some of the 60 Councillors may have been overpaid their allowances going back to 2022.

“This is a matter that needs to be dealt with promptly with the Council confirming exactly which councillors have been affected and how much overpayment is due to be repaid.

“The sooner the details are communicated, the sooner councillors can repay the overpayments.  But questions need to be asked - how has this happened and have other Council staff also been affected?”

Liberal Democrat Councillor and Group Leader Howard Sykes MBE stated “this is yet another fiasco that is clearly not the fault of opposition councillors, it shows once again the lack of good governance by this Council.  I want to assure residents of Oldham Borough that my Liberal Democrats colleagues have committed to making these repayments as soon as possible, we hope others do likewise.”

The Council have confirmed that that the information should be available before the end of August.  There will also be a report to the next full Council on 17 September.