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Bullying and obsession with red tape to blame for Conservative council 'hell'
Katharine Barney and Paul Waugh14 Aug 2009
A troubleshooter uncovered a culture of bullying and the worst case of financial mismanagement he had seen when he was called in to oversee a Tory council.
Michael Frater spent six months as interim chief executive at Surrey county council and exposed a catalogue of malpractice at the authority, which spends about £1billion of taxpayers' cash a year.
Council bosses were found to be "superior and arrogant", with relations having broken down between officials and within political groups.
One councillor told Mr Frater the last four years had been "hell".
Mr Frater, who has 15 years' experience as a chief executive, was asked to help Surrey recover from dire official ratings after it was found to have failed 4,000 vulnerable children.
Ofsted said the authority's children's social services were "inadequate".
Children's Secretary Ed Balls threatened to intervene unless improvements were made over two years.
Another report raised concerns over the performance of one in five social workers.
Mr Frater, who arrived at the council in January, laid bare the failings of the authority in a document delivered to councillors as he left.
He said the council was "self-serving", with difficult issues being swept under the carpet and an "obsession" with bureaucracy.
There was an absence of good working relations with the county's 11 district councils and its MPs, even though some such as Michael Gove, Chris Grayling and Philip Hammond could form the core of any future Conservative government.
Mr Frater's report said: "The blaming and bullying, the arrogance and remoteness, the associated inability for the organisation to learn, have in combination created a situation where it seems that almost everyone in the organisation could see what was wrong, but no one felt able, empowered or safe enough to articulate it."
Problems went beyond those uncovered by independent inspectors in children's and adult social services.
"This is a whole system failure," he said. "Many of the problems that need fixing are organisation-wide."
An efficiency drive launched four years ago to save £40million had seen "bloodletting", with good staff leaving, and continued to sour working relationships. It remained the "elephant in the room".
Mr Frater said: "It has created a highly centralised model of control, and has encouraged micro-management and 'control freakery' by certain [councillors] and officers."
Hazel Watson, leader of the opposition Lib-Dems, said the council had "lost its way" and forgotten its job was to serve residents.
She said: "This damning report is an accurate assessment of the state of the council. Clearly, Surrey council tax payers' money is being wasted on costly bureaucracy."
Peter Webb, of Surrey Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Most of Frater's conclusions about how Surrey county council works make pretty frightening reading for residents, who over the last 10 years have passed over millions of pounds to the council to spend wisely - clearly the council has not always done this."
Surrey has since appointed a new chief executive, David McNulty, and a new Tory leader, Dr Andrew Povey.
Dr Povey said: "New people have moved into both of the two most senior positions in the authority for the first time in 12 years.
"We share a determination to make Surrey a leading-edge organisation and the fact we are both starting at the same time means we can give the county council a fresh start."
Reader views (6)
It has got worse due to the recession. In my opinion I would say that it is a climate of fear. All the managers are worried about is not getting outsourced or merged, and losing their jobs. They don't mind the rest of us losing ours!
- Ashley, London, 28/01/2012 23:44
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Bullying in endemic throughout Surrey County Council. At every level, it is role modelled.
There is widespread abuse of flexible working, and a a lack of monitoring of flexi-time by Managers. There is protectionism, to the point where managers will mislead their line managers, in order to keep their budgets intact.
If anyone raises concerns, they find themselves the subject of dirty tricks campaigns.
Managers will not deal with bullying in Surrey County Council, and prefer to sweep it under the carpet.
- Local Authority Worker, Reigate, 05/01/2011 09:15
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every word of this man's report is true.
I have found them over 22 years to be constantly irresponsible, arrogant, bad mannered and incompetent.
- Max, surrey, 20/08/2009 22:24
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Imagine the fuss had this been a Labour Council perhaps Lord Mandleson better pay a visit to Surrey!!
Just goes to show what happens when a single party can always get a majority, perhaps its time for PR system for County Council elections?
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 16/08/2009 17:17
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On their website Surrey County Council claim in 'About Surrey County Council' "...we're shaping the future of local government." If that's really true then hold on to your seats ladies and gentlemen because you're in for a truly rough ride.
Surrey is a truly awful local authority that wastes money and provides genrally rotten services.
- Peter, Surrey, 14/08/2009 14:51
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How centralisation works.
Whenever something goes well, they take the credit.
Whenever something goes wrong, you get the blame.
Whatever happens, they give themselves pay rises and bonuses. And then there's nowt left for you.
- Nigel, London, 14/08/2009 11:33
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