Limerick City and County Council’s €4.9m bill for staff overtime during 2022

LIMERICK City and County Council paid almost €5m to staff in overtime payments in 2022, new figures have revealed.

The information was contained in the local authority’s audit committee report, presented to councillors at this month’s full meeting.

It also shows that there was a year-on-year rise in overtime payments, from €4.8m in 2021 to €4.9m the following year.

In 2022, overtime payments of €4.9m were paid to 434 employees.

Eighty-one of these staff earned more than €20,000 each in overtime payments.

The year before, when overtime payments totalled €4.8m, 85 employees earned more than €20,000 each on the same basis.

The audit committee, which exists to oversee financial reporting, disclosure, and ensure good governance, identified a number of issues, according to its report.

It found some overtime claims were not appropriately signed off, some claims were not submitted in a timely manner for payments. And the committee also found examples of staff working hours in excess of the Working Time Act.

This piece of legislation sets out statutory rights for employees in respect of rest, maximum working time and holidays.

“Improved oversight is required in the areas of monitoring and approving overtime claims to ensure these issues are addressed,” the audit committee stressed in its report.

In response, council chief executive Dr Pat Daly said the local authority introduced a new policy in June 2022.

“In accordance with this policy, overtime reports are circulated on a monthly basis to management to ensure all overtime is monitored continuously,” he said.

“All overtime claims are approved by the appropriate line manager to ensure adherence to the policy,” the chief executive added.

Mr Daly also pointed out that a significant percentage of the overtime the audit committee referred to relates to the council’s fire service.