THE leader of Worcestershire County Council has issued an apology over the payroll fiasco - admitting: "The bucks stops with us."

Councillor Simon Geraghty says he wants to understand "what has gone wrong" after a private company sparked chaos by not paying staff properly at schools and care sites across the county.

As the Worcester News revealed last week, an independent investigation has been launched after Liberata's new payroll system was beset with errors.

Some schools said almost half their staff have been badly affected with workers either underpaid, overtime not logged, student loads not paid and private pensions not topped-up.

Some council staff have contacted us since last week to say it has been "complete chaos", with the new system - called 'Mercury' - unable to properly process invoices from suppliers too.

One council employee, who did not want to be named, said: "Since April 1st we've been unable to process invoices, purchase orders, payments and stuff like that.

"It's really slow - we've got people waiting for payments who run their own businesses, it's complete chaos.

"The issue with the staff has been appalling, but there's been a direct impact on businesses too."

Other workers contacted us to say "the wrong suppliers" had been given money for some jobs.

Another worker, who did also not want to be named, said: "It's not just the county council staff who have suffered, the staff now working for the private company were forced to move from council employment, or lose their jobs, to work for a new employer on a poorly managed project and system.

"Vulnerable people have been left confused at what and when to pay their bills for care and businesses have not had proper notification of payments which has all caused immense stress to all concerned. 

"I'm sure the the council will have to face many expensive legal challenges from angry suppliers - the crisis is probably more far reaching than many perhaps think.

"It's not just payroll but also many other aspects of the financial services that are going wrong too."

County Hall's chief executive Clare Marchant has written to schools in Worcestershire to apologise for the problems.

Councillor Geraghty said: "We are undertaking an independent investigation, and when you do an investigation you must await the findings.

"We do want to understand what has gone wrong, why it has gone wrong and how to put it right.

"The chief executive has already written to schools and headteachers to apologise and I'd echo that apology."

It comes as Labour politicians continue their calls for the company to be slapped with a penalty fine.

Labour Councillor Chris Bloore, the new chairman of County Hall's scrutiny board, said: "I'm aghast - an apology is the least this council should be doing."

Liberata, which is operating under a seven-year deal, occupies space on the third floor of County Hall to run the council's payroll and finance function.

Last month 147 people were underpaid but many more were given log-in details other workers, leading to serious data breaches.

The firm has apologised, saying it will "co-operate fully with the independent review".