Sacked Colne headteacher’s ‘unfair dismissal’ case - latest

Peter Cunningham accused Sacred Heart RC Primary School and Lancashire County Council of unfair dismissal and breach of contract at a hearing in Manchester.

Mr Cunningham, of Skipton Old Road, Colne, was suspended from the Red Lane school in January, 2008, and dismissed a year later.

The tribunal heard evidence from auditor Sarah Oldendorp, who investigated the finances at the school after concerns were raised over VAT discrepancies.

She told the panel concerns were also raised about the mixing of monies between Sacred Heart, an unofficial school fund, and Club 2000, an organisation responsible for providing after-school care.

Mr Cunningham told the hearing he was unaware of any financial irregularities. He said an audit was carried out before investigation in 2006 as well as an inspection by Ofsted and neither highlighted any problems.

“The governors and I looked at the Ofsted report and the audit report that had been taken previously. I thought we were doing everything right” he said.

Mrs Oldendorp told the hearing Mr Cunningham had dishonestly reclaimed VAT on building work carried out at the school. She said the work was charged against revenue expenditure rather than capital expenditure, as it should have been, so VAT could be claimed back. This led to Sacred Heart School paying back more than £80,000 to HMRC when the error was discovered.

Mr Cunningham told the panel he could not be expected to know all the guidance on VAT and it was an honest mistake. “Lots of schools have made errors over VAT records on building work, according to Lancashire County Council another 23 schools in the county have made mistakes” he said.

Mr Cunningham questioned the methods used by Lancashire Audit Service when they told the school of their investigation into finances. He said: “A letter was read out to staff when I was suspended which said that HMRC were involved and that criminal proceedings could be brought against myself and my wife.

“These threats were untrue; no criminal proceedings could have been brought as it was a civil matter.”

The case continues - click back for updates.