Hammersmith council may have to pay "significant back taxes", says Private Eye

Hammersmith Tory council is in Private Eye again, this time for possible tax dodging in its lavish use of consultants.

The Eye says, "Tory flagship council Hammersmith & Fulham is employing tax-avoiding 'consultants' on a far greater scale than anyone has realised." That's 69 at the last count.

Where consultants effectively act as full-time employees, the council is required to pay National Insurance contributions and tax. Apparently, for "a significant proportion", this isn't happening.

So Tory Hammersmith is not only cutting services by £22 million and paying "record amounts" to consultants, but the council - for which read local residents - may also end up having to pay "significant back taxes" to HMRC

What a nasty mess from one of the country's least efficient councils.