Home Office fined for breaching pay cap rules

The Home Office has been heavily fined by the Treasury over the salary it agreed for the chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

It was also fined over payments to each of the inquiry’s then four panel members. The ‘exemplary fine’ of £366,900 was revealed in the Home Office’s annual accounts and was imposed by the Treasury because it breached control process in negotiating the salaries. Retrospective permission was later granted by then Treasury chief secretary David Gauke.

The inquiry is now chaired by Professor Alex Jay, assisted by panel members Professor Sir Malcolm Evans, Ivor Frank and Drusilla Shaprling.

It went through three previous chairs in 2014-15 who stepped down because of objections about perceived bias or personal reasons, leading to doubts that anyone suitable could be found who would be willing to serve.

Professor Jay is best known for having led the 2014 inquiry that exposed child sex exploitations at Rotterdam Metropolitan Borough Council.