PROSECUTIONS could follow from the sacking of 11 interim council staff overseeing health and safety work at dozens of Dorset Council buildings.

Police have said they are 'in discussions' with Dorset Council about what led to the sackings as the local authority tried to catch up with the essential work.

On Monday (28 July) Dorset Council confirmed potential fraud and over-charging within one of its departments with a series of financial rules not followed – accoding to an external audit investigation.

The safety work, and the interim staff which were taken on to commissioned much of it, was mainly for buildings handed over to Dorset Council from the former Dorset Council, borough and district councils, when the new unitary authority was formed in April 2019.

Eleven interim staff members, taken on via what is known as a 'framework agreement', were sacked when issues of financial mismanagement and possible fraud were discovered after the new Lib Dem administration asked for an internal investigation.

In a short statement Dorset Police said: "We are in communication with Dorset Council to explore any investigative opportunities."

Deputy Dorset Council leader Richard Biggs told Dorchester town councillors on Monday evening that the situation the new administration found after taking political control in May 2024 had been 'a distraction' at County Hall as they settled in to their new roles, following years of Conservative control.

"It is quite staggering it had carried on for so long without coming to anyone's attention," he told town councillors.

Cllr Biggs revealed that senior Dorset Council officers at the highest level had been interviewed about management systems and the apparent lack of political accountability for the group of interim staff brought in to solve the health and safety issues across council buildings.

The audit report says some officers had 'obfuscated' when first questioned.

The deputy Dorset Council leader said the good news was that the works which had been carried out appeared to be up to standard, although some of it might not represent good value for money, the budget having swollen from £4million to £13million during the time the team worked on the project.

Cllr Biggs revealed to town councillors that the group of interim officers had set up their own budgetary code, needed to approve contracts, and had avoided having to take big spend items, of over half a million pounds, for Cabinet approval, as laid out in the council's financial rules.

He said there had been a range of works needing to be undertaken to council buildings including new fire doors, lightening conductors and checks for Radon gas as part of the project to make sure all council buildings complied with statutory health and safety regulations.

Although Cllr Biggs did not say so it is understood that some of the checks for Radon, which is linked to cancer, were carried out in places where Radon would never be expected. The gas usually pools in the basement or lowest level of buildings and is only a risk in a very limited number of areas in Dorset.

Cllr Biggs confirmed there was a police investigation into some individuals who had worked at the council and said that prosecutions were 'quite likely.'

He also revealed that other local authorities are being warned about what is claimed had happened in Dorset.

Another senior councillor, Dorchester Mayor Andy Canning, who also sits on Dorset Council with Cllr Biggs, said the investigation was likely to continue for some time. He too said there were likely to be prosecutions "at some point."

Cllr Canning said: "It seems it has been an ongoing problem for years and years."