A DECISION to award a care contract to the wife of a councillor looks set to cost a Gwent council more than £33,000.

Blaenau Gwent councillors decided in January to award the contract to Christine Scully, wife of former social services committee chairman Councillor Brian Scully.

But an auditor's report published in May slammed the council for awarding the contract to Mrs Scully, whose bid was potentially £3.15 million more expensive than the lowest received.

The contract was to accommodate and provide care for severely learning disabled residents of Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital, near Cwmbran, who were to be resettled into the community in Blaenau Gwent.

Auditor Tony Morgan, a partner with professional services organisation PricewaterhouseCoopers, described the council's decision as "perverse", "inconsistent" and "possibly unlawful".

Now the council has received a bill from PricewaterhouseCoopers for £26,737.50 - the cost of investigating the awarding of the contract.

One of the auditor's recommendations was that the four original bids for the contract should be re-assessed.

Councillors have already agreed to accept the recommendation and at a meeting on Thursday they will be advised to accept a bid from the lowest tenderer, Quality Research Management, to undertake the independent appraisal, at a cost of £6,713 including expenses, plus VAT.

That would take the cost to the council of the inquiry and appraisal to £33,450.50 - plus the VAT for the appraisal price.

At a meeting to discuss the auditor's report in May, council leader Councillor John Hopkins said the contract awarded to Mrs Scully had not been acted upon because the decision was made subject to additional resources being available, but the funding had not been identified.

A report drawn up by council officers - including chief executive Roger Leadbeter - which will go before councillors at Thursday's meeting, lists a number of details the independent appraisal should take into account.

The report said: "Particular attention is drawn to the need to balance the quality of service to be provided and the financial cost."

*PICTURED: Councillor Brian Scully with his wife, Christine