Thousands of census staff were overpaid

Thousands of staff working on last year's census received overpayments totalling almost £500,000, according to an audit report published today.

Thousands more were paid compensation totalling nearly £300,000 because they were paid more than four weeks late by private payroll contractors, the National Audit Office said.

More than a third of the excess payments had been written off, the NAO said.

A report criticised the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which conducted the survey, over a £1m contract to pay the wages of 73,000 temporary staff employed to collect census returns after a third of payments to staff were inaccurate or delayed.

Overall, 12,000 people had to query their pay, and 50 temporary staff were recruited to process complaints.

The ONS was also attacked for failing to abide by the Government's purchasing guidelines when negotiating a separate £1m contract for a private firm to advise on the huge task of collecting and processing census data.The report said it was "essential" that contracts with the private sector were managed in line with public sector standards.

The NAO praised the decision to allow householders to post their census returns to the ONS, which exceeded expectations, with 88 per cent of householders sending their forms by mail.

The report found that the census was completed on time and within its £207m budget.