Bromley Council has been criticised for spending more than 10 per cent of its annual school improvement budget on consultant fees.
The council receives an annual school conditions allocation (SCA) from the Department for Education to support the upkeep of the borough’s remaining maintained schools and council documents reveal how the funding will be used in its Education Planned Maintenance Programme for 2025/26.
Bromley’s SCA for this financial year is £377,000, with £100,000 being spent on thermal insulation at the former site of the Marjorie McClure School in Hawkwood Lane. The site has been out of use since the specialist SEN school moved to its new home in Slades Drive in 2023, and the council has allocated a total of £1 million in funding to support the site’s refurbishment which is due to be completed this September.
The other two projects outlined in the council’s programme are heating distribution works at Poverest Primary School that will cost £86,000, and structural works at the Beckenham site of the Riverside School that will cost £75,000.
The programme was approved by the council’s Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families, Cllr Kate Lymer, on June 19.
The remaining £116,000 of the council’s Education Planned Maintenance Programme for 2025/26 is being spent on associated fees, £40,000 of which is going to consultants and £45,000 on capitalised staffing costs; £26,000 is being allocated as a contingency fund and £5,000 is being spent on legal costs.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has criticised the budget, likening the programme to a “pay day for consultants”. However, Bromley Council has said the consultants, such as building surveyors, are needed “to support the delivery of the programme”.
Jonathan Eida, researcher at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers are tired of seeing precious resources supposedly devoted to vital improvements to the public realm be turned into a pay day for consultants.
“While outside expertise is valuable, we’ve seen local authorities frequently be fleeced by external organisations taking advantage of the inexperience and naivete of many town hall bosses by inflating costs and exaggerating contributions.
“Councils need to be far more suspicious and scrupulous about the hiring of consultants and other external help to ensure they are really getting bang for their buck.”
A Bromley Council Spokesperson said: “A range of specialist surveys and advice are required to determine the prioritisation of proposed work as well as to determine the exact nature of what is needed, with this advice needed for all of the sites in question.
“The building maintenance work also needs to be overseen, with this specialist role needed over an extended time period, with all related costs outlined for transparency within the £377k total project costs.
“It should be noted that the staffing costs relate to the cost of time spent by LB Bromley project managers in the delivery of the council’s Education Capital Programme. Those costs are legally capitalised in line with accountancy practice on the capitalisation of staff costs.
“The consultancy fees relate to the cost of professional consultants i.e. building surveyors, surveyor and cost consultants employed to support the delivery of the programme.”
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