22 June 2022
Your request & our response
The following are follow-up questions to responses given by your FOI team on May 6th 2022 to [redacted]
Please could you confirm:
1: That, initially, the bailiffs left with a cheque for £500,000?
A payment of £500,000 was made as the bailiffs had an enforcement order. The payment was made on the basis that the bailiffs would hold the monies whilst the council made an application to the court to set aside the original judgment.
2: That chief executive Andrew Travers was unaware of the case until the bailiffs turned up?
Correct.
3: Was the case, as Brixton Buzz reports, a consequence of legal staff moonlighting?
No.
Please could you also clarify:
4: Is it the case, as Brixton Buzz says, that the Lambeth legal team were allowed to pick up freelance work elsewhere?.
No.
5: Is it correct, as Brixton Buzz states, that they missed the Court papers and final demands relating to the case.?
The initial court papers were overlooked during a transitional period of change in staff and work pressures. No enforcement papers were sent to the legal team so they did not have any notice until enforcement agents attended in person.
6: Under whose authority, if any, were the legal team allowed to pick up freelance work elsewhere? Was this matter ever discussed by cabinet or any council committee?
No, see response to questions 3 & 4 above.
7: What disciplinary action, if any, is being taken or has been taken over this issue?
None, see response to questions 3 & 4 above.
8: If the bailiffs did leave with a cheque for £500,000 - or any other amount - has all of that money been returned?
Yes, the council was granted an order for all the monies to be returned.
9: If the full amount has not been returned, how much have Lambeth received so far?
See response to question 8 above.
10: What actions are Lambeth taking or have taken to recover the outstanding monies?
See response to question 8 above.
11: Is there any further legal action set to take place? The FOI answers say the judgment has been set aside. Is this case being taken back to court by the original plaintiffs and / or their legal representatives?.
No – the proceedings have ended with the judgement being set aside and the original claim being struck out. The judge refused the claimant’s application to appeal both decisions.
12: If the case has, as the answer to the FOI request states, been set aside, is this pending an appeal by Lambeth?
No, see response to question 11 above.
13: Will this matter be going to cabinet or committee at some point in the future?
No – the proceedings were concluded