Northern Ireland

Belfast council spent £15,000 on awards bash for staff

The awards ceremony was held at Belfast City Hall
The awards ceremony was held at Belfast City Hall The awards ceremony was held at Belfast City Hall

BELFAST City Council spent more than £15,000 of ratepayers' cash on an internal awards ceremony for its own staff – including an 'excellence' gong for the bonfire management team.

The 'recognising excellence awards', held for the first time in 2017, were aimed at acknowledging council employee achievements.

Attended by both staff and councillors, the awards bash was held at city hall and included a three-course meal.

The overall cost of the ceremony was £15,442.38 including £1,145 spent on awards given to winners and put on display.

The council's bonfire management team was among those awarded a gong – presented just weeks before the council launched investigation into its controversial storage of pallets for loyalist bonfires.

The probe came after The Irish News revealed the council had been storing thousands of pallets at ratepayers' expense.

Some 2,500 pallets were held for east Belfast's Walkway area and around 300 for a pyre near a city centre hotel – and were due to be returned before the Eleventh Night.

In July Belfast City Council refused to answer any questions about the awards ceremony, citing the "current sensitivities regarding bonfires".

However, details have now been disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Public spending campaigners branded the awards event "self-congratulatory", but the council said it was important to reward and motivate staff.

Twelve awards were given out at the ceremony – which was free to attend and was held in June – in categories including "customer service excellence" and "best partnership".

The bonfire management team's award was one of four gongs under a category called "chief executive's awards".

In its FOI response, Belfast council said winners were decided by a project team made up of council officers, and that the chief executive was not involved in the process.

James Price, campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Ratepayers will be forgiven for being upset to read that their hard-earned money is being spent on a self-congratulatory 'awards ceremony' rather than the essential services they want.

"Recognition for a job well done is a great way to get more out of workers, but why expensive trophies had to be issued rather than fun plastic medals or something is a particularly frustrating feature.

"The council should remember where this money comes from, and balancing rewarding merit with being respectful of how over-taxed ratepayers are, and what a burden they are currently under."

A Belfast City Council spokesman said: "The Recognising Excellence Awards were approved by council to reward individuals and teams where staff demonstrated exceptional levels of service provision and effort, which in many cases went well beyond the call of duty.

"Staff engagement and motivation is important to ensuring continued strength in overall performance, city leadership and the delivery of services for our ratepayers."