WHEN South Lakeland District Council hired consultants to work on its pay and grading structure it did so while relying on references that, "tended to be verbal, rather than written".

In his report, Mike Jones found that the process was done in two parts, and Taylor West Associates, a firm of consultants, appeared to have undertaken the first part successfully.

As a result, the council entered into a second contract with the consultants for the second part of the process.

Mr Jones said his main criticism of the process was the method by which the consultants were first engaged.

"It would appear that no fully documented procedure took place, references tended to be verbal rather than written, and the advice of bodies such as the North West Employers Organisation was not sought.

"In addition, because the consultants appeared to have performed satisfactorily on the first part of the exercise, it was automatically assumed that they would have the expertise to undertake the pay modelling process."

He highlighted a number of lessons to be learned from the process.

Mr Jones also found that there were four major failures leading up to the discovery that the pay and grading structure was going to be much more costly than anticipated: l The lack of a detailed and appropriate project plan with clear lines of responsibility coupled with effective monitoring procedures.

l The process of appointing the consultants.

l A failure to monitor or verify the work of the consultants, particularly the financial calculations.

l The failure to set financial parameters within which the negotiations were to be carried out.

He said a "significant" amount of work had already been done on project management.