{"id":432630,"date":"2025-09-18T02:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T02:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/432630\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T02:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T02:44:15","slug":"at-first-it-was-disappointing-now-its-becoming-an-embarrassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/432630\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018At first it was disappointing, now it\u2019s becoming an embarrassment\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018No news\u2019 on councillor allowances as report on overpayments delayed.<\/p>\n<p>15:51, 17 Sep 2025Updated 15:58, 17 Sep 2025<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_220725oldhamimages16.jpg\" alt=\"Oldham Civic Centre \" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Oldham Civic Centre (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Oldham council has delayed a report on how much councillors have been overpaid, after it emerged in July that their allowances had been miscalculated for the past three years. The local authority was due to reveal the extent of the \u2018administrative error\u2019 on Wednesday, September 17.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">But a council source claims the work has taken longer than expected due to the complexity of the issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The exact figure is currently unknown, with some councillors claiming to the Local Democracy Reporting Service they had reported up to three thousand pounds in overpayments, while others had been \u2018repeatedly underpaid\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Councillor Howard Sykes, leader of the Lib Dem opposition group, has slammed the delay as \u2018an embarrassment and a disgrace\u2019. He claims councillors had been promised a \u2018plan to rectify overpayments\u2019 by August 21.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_csm_2025-08-12-OldLibrary-1_3a7c0bae8c.jpg\" alt=\"The J R Clynes building - Oldham's new town hall. \" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>The J R Clynes building &#8211; Oldham&#8217;s new town hall. (Image: Oldham Lib Dems)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Coun Sykes said: \u201cThere has been no news since. A report was promised to come to this week\u2019s Full Council meeting but is not even listed on the agenda, never mind a report produced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cAt first the silence was disappointing, but this is now becoming an embarrassment and disgrace. Did people not think we would notice or remember?<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cPeople in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/oldham\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Oldham<\/a> Borough need to know that everything relating to councillors\u2019 pay is being handled above board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cNow I predict this matter will rumble on unresolved for weeks more to come. All the while the public continues to look at the administration of Oldham Council with disgust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_220725oldhamimages8.jpg\" alt=\"Locals in Oldham were not happy about the news of the overpayments. \" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Locals in Oldham were not happy about the news of the overpayments. (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The news of the overpayments previously sparked anger in the local community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Sarah, an Oldham local in her forties, told the LDRS in July: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s only a small amount, they need to pay it back. \u2026 It\u2019s not fair towards normal, working class people like us. We wouldn\u2019t get away with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">While the council did not wish to comment on the delay, a member of the administration has previously stated to the LDRS that there is \u2018no question\u2019 about the councillors paying back the money once the exact figures have been established.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018No news\u2019 on councillor allowances as report on overpayments delayed. 15:51, 17 Sep 2025Updated 15:58, 17 Sep 2025&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,1286,14984,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-432630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-oldham","13":"tag-oldham-council","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115223007811317949","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}