AN EMPLOYMENT tribunal has heard how its former finance director claims to have saved Bournemouth Borough Council between £15-16 million after re-jigging a controversial contract which saw several of its services outsourced.

The hearing into Liz Wilkinson's post, which she held from January 2012 until her resignation in January this year, was told how she was responsible for auditing the 10-year £150 million contract between the council and private sector consultancy firm Mouchel, which included contracting out facilities management, ICT, revenues and benefits.

Mouchel were allegedly claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds - something Ms Wilkinson claims to have changed when she renegotiated the terms of the contract.

As previously reported, when the claimant was first suspended from her duties in October - which included the Section 151 officer role, Mouchel's remit extended to include human resources and payroll.

Chief executive Tony Williams told the hearing, during his two-day testimony at the Southampton employment tribunal this week, that Ms Wilkinson was recruited for "her calibre".

"We needed to improve the audit which Liz Wilkinson did very well," he said.

"We needed to improve strategic finance. We had a track record of plying short term contracts to fill the corporate gap. The services extended the contracts to that point where they were in danger of becoming permanent staff."

Richard O'Dair, the claimant's representative, made reference to an independent audit that had been carried out prior to Ms Wilkinson's appointment. The audit had shown the "corporate spine" of the council required significant improvement; the same concerns Ms Wilkinson allegedly raised before she joined the council, citing issue with the value for money of the Mouchel contract.

Mr O'Dair said: "The sort of concerns the claimant had can be described as serious, 'as a choice between poor decisions and corruption'. The claimant had serious concerns which she ventilated with you before she joined Bournemouth, very similar to the ones articulated by the district auditor concerning financial robustness. She had a real commitment to upholding proper standards in relation to the financial circumstances."

Mr O'Dair accused Mr Williams of avoiding answering questions, making reference to Lewis Carroll's wording in Alice in Wonderland; "words mean what I want them to mean".

"I would have been happy for a value for money study to be undertaken," Mr Williams added.

The hearing continues.

CORRECTION: As previously reported, (Saturday, September 7) we inaccurately reported that Ms Wilkinson had been made redundant from her post last October. She had in fact been suspended before she resigned in January this year.