In December 2013, Salford Council handed PWC (Price Waterhouse Cooper) consultants a contract running from 1st January 2014 until 31st March 2015, and "not exceeding £172,000", for a Lead Advisor/Project Manager to work on the process which resulted in 8,500 council properties being transferred to Salix Homes.
This whopping contract came on top of two previous contracts to PWC of £40,000 (December 2012-July 2013) and £150,000 (July 2013-December 2013), making a total of £362,000.
Despite the £172,000 contract running until March 2015, Salford Council is set to agree more money for PWC because, a report states, "the details and fee of the support had been based on the original transfer timescale of completion by 31st December 2014".
Now, apparently, "This final phase requires a combination of lead advisory (including finance) and project management support to provide the Council with advice on the stock transfer and the review of retained housing services". PWC wanted £75,000 to complete the work, which was rejected by Council officers who reckoned the extra work would take 33.5 days. So now PWC is about to get a new extension to its £172,000 contract of £41,875, or £1,250 per day.
The Council report states that "every effort will be made to manage this expenditure within the existing stock transfer budget" – but, if not, Salford City Mayor Ian Stewart has agreed that the Council will meet the additional cost. Salix Homes has agreed to pay the Council's set up costs for the transfer only up to a maximum of £1.2million.
* See also previous Salford Star article - the £3.24 cost of stock transfer - click here
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