Social media campaigns costing almost £500,000 ‘did not represent value for money’, a report from Essex County Council's audit, governance and standards committee has said.
The report highlights a number of Facebook groups which the committee concluded ‘did not represent good value for money’.
These included ‘This is Your Life’, which cost £70,000 but garnered only 1,300 links and 1,500 followers and ‘Essex Supports Veterans’ which had ‘almost no engagement and has incurred expenses of £15,100.’
The money was paid to digital creator and ‘internet prankster’ Simon Harris, who said he was not given a chance to respond to the findings.
A spokesperson for Essex County Council said: 'The pandemic was an extraordinary time when extraordinary decisions had to be taken quickly to deal with the public health crisis being faced. This included communicating rapidly changing health guidance, with efforts to reach millions of residents in new and different ways by expanding our digital community engagement.
'Transparency and accountability are paramount to us, which is why Full Council asked the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee (AGSC) to look at whatever it needed to when concerns were raised.'
They added: 'The committee’s work examining our decisions and processes will help us learn and improve. The council has accepted the recommendations made by the committee and will be working to implement them as soon as possible.'
