Here today, gone tomorrow

Agent 151 is a senior local authority finance director and S151 officer writing exclusively for Room151

Section 151 officers come in the good, the bad and the plain old ugly. I am pleased to say that most fall into the first category: they are good at their jobs, anticipate trouble and avert it. Or, if trouble is inevitable, they navigate their way deftly through it. The bad mean well but simply don’t have the gumption to do their job to the standard required. Their ranks consist of the over-promoted, the lazy and the misguided. They allow themselves to be bullied by colleagues or politicians, allow finance to be relegated to a back seat in the organisation and let poor performance in the finance team go uncorrected. They often take refuge in the technical hinterlands of local government finance where they feel secure.

The ugly, a smaller minority than the bad, are poor performers who make up for their shortcomings through nefarious means. They may be competent finance officers, but they prefer this way of doing
things. They will befriend politicians (‘hands off – s/he’s definitely one of us’), bend the rules as a favour for allies, promote like-minded cronies and yesmen, backstab people that get in the way… you get the idea.

Now that I’ve described them, I’m sure you will recognise the types and will almost certainly have met at least one of each. Despite their relative strengths and weaknesses, each one of these types can fall
foul of the politics of their organisation, and may even have to leave at short notice. But what causes this phenomenon? Section 151 officers come under an extraordinary range of pressures. They have to manage their own service, of course. The scale of that service will range from a relatively small team of finance
experts to a staff of over 500 people engaged in providing a wide range of services as well as finance: customer services, revenues and benefits, legal, IT, procurement, property and HR to name a few. Naturally, the potential for getting involved in tricky issues increases relative to the size and scope of the operation.

Staffing issues can prove an unwelcome source of pressure. Quite apart from the inherent difficulty in
resolving restructures, grievances and disciplinary issues efficiently and fairly, lobbying by staff members or trade unions can bring pressure from fellow senior officers or members to deliver a particular outcome (e.g. I know he stole the money from petty cash but he’s the Leader’s nephew).

Service issues can also create pressures. Poor performance in one of the S151’s services can potentially (and possibly quite rightly) undermine the confidence of members and colleagues in their ability to deliver. It can also undermine the position of their lead member and damage the reputation of the council. Also, since the S151 officer is usually providing support services, unscrupulous colleagues can easily take the opportunity to blame the poor performance of one of their services on the problem in the S151’s area.

A S151 officer is also involved in other areas of the council’s business. In fact, he or she is expected to know everything about every service everywhere. This means they must stick their nose into their colleagues’ business, which can make them unpopular if they go about it in the wrong way or if their colleague has something to hide. Their statutory role means that sometimes they have to enforce rules and decisions, and doing so can also earn them the enmity of colleagues or politicians. Standing their
ground concerning an audit investigation has got many a S151 into trouble.

The stakes are high. Local authorities are multi-million pound organisations, and the S151 officer is accountable for the stewardship of the council’s resources. Getting this wrong can have a huge and often dramatic effect upon the organisation, pushing politicians into making decisions they would rather not
have been confronted with. This pressure is exacerbated by the current severity of grant reductions. The S151 officer is an easy scapegoat when things go wrong, because there is always money involved, and if it has a pound sign it must be the responsibility of the finance director. The children’s services director overspends their budget? Blame the finance team. A big contract fraud happens in housing? Internal audit must be to blame.

Certain events can create pressures of their own. For example, when there is an election coming, politicians can take a very unreasonable position on the required level of reserves, or have unrealistic expectations of the S151 producing a rabbit from a hat. Elections also have a tendency to generate difficult political issues for the S151 to become involved in. And after a change of administration, an officer perceived to have been too close to the previous regime can be removed without further thought. The picture is further complicated by the complexities of the relationships at the top of the organisation. Statutory roles aside, it is important to get on with the members of the board, which means there must be trust and mutual respect. It is very difficult to perform the S151 role without co-operation from colleagues. It is even more difficult if colleagues are quietly ganging up or briefing members against you. Many S151 officers have found themselves the victims of such briefings, especially if they are perceived to be obstructing another board member’s career ambitions.

As if this minefield of issues were not enough, S151s are only human and subject to the usual temptations and weaknesses. There are case histories of personal interests undeclared, leanings towards
accepting excessive hospitality, office romances, and (this one is very rare but not unknown) fraud or corruption leading to enforced departure from the role. No one would argue that there should be special protection for S151s who step outside the boundaries of good behaviour. But nine times out of ten, when you see a S151 officer leaving an organisation under duress it is not one of these more personal failures but rather a quirk of the politics of the role that has caused it. And this kind of thing happens to the good just as much as it does the bad and the ugly. It would be bonkers to suggest, in the knowledge of the complexity of the issues and political risks that S151s face, that Section 151 officers do not need special protection. Wouldn’t it?

This article was first published in Room151 Quarterly magazine. Didn’t receive a copy? Local authority heads of finance, resources, procurement and chief execs can email subscriptions@room151.co.uk for a complimentary subscription.