Somerset Council has defended the cost of keeping its interim finance chief in post after questions were raised at a full council meeting in Bridgwater.

Clive Heaphy will remain as the authority's interim chief financial officer until April 2027.

The council says he will work four days a week, with the cost of the extension put at £291,000.

The role is also known as the Section 151 officer.

Every local authority is required by law to have one.

The officer is responsible for making sure the council manages public money properly, controls spending and sets a lawful budget.

Somerset Council has relied on interim officers since Jason Vaughan left the role in September 2024.

Maria G. Christofi, formerly of Redbridge Council in Greater London, filled the post before Mr Heaphy took over.

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The council had appointed a permanent replacement before its annual budget was approved in early March.

But Rachael Sanders, formerly of Herefordshire Council, later withdrew for "personal reasons".

That means Mr Heaphy will stay in the interim role for another year.

The issue was raised when the full council met on Wednesday, 20 May.

Councillor Diogo Rodrigues, leader of the Conservative opposition group, said the cost was a "very, very hefty sum".

Mr Rodrigues, who represents Bridgwater East and Bawdrip, told the meeting: "The cost of the Section 151 officer is £291,000 for the extension. That is an additional funding requirement of £89,000, just for one year.

"This will be funded through the council's capitalisation directive — so we are selling assets to pay for our Section 151 officer.

"It's a very, very hefty sum, and I wonder what progress is being made into employing a permanent officer again.

"There's clearly no stability when we have an interim officer costing us twice as much as the prime minister."

Sir Keir Starmer's salary as prime minister is around £167,000.

Somerset Council's capitalisation directive was granted by central government before the authority set its annual budget.

It allows the council to use money from selling assets to support day-to-day spending on services and salaries.

The government has warned the council that further support of this kind will not be forthcoming.

Duncan Sharkey, Somerset Council's chief executive, said the authority was still working to find a permanent finance chief.

He told councillors: "We are working quite hard within the market — we were speaking to consultants just yesterday.

"It is a very tough market right now — there's been a lot of people locked up in their existing roles by the local government reorganisation process, which is running across a large part of the country.

"Everybody's struggling. The people who have been recruiting most recently seem to have been recruiting either from people directly in their locality or actually from within.

"We are keeping a very active view on the market. We will be looking to see what we can do.

"Obviously, at some point we would have to take a view on the timeliness of recruiting in proximity to the budget, because we've got to have the budget set fairly."

Council leader Bill Revans said there was a national shortage of suitably qualified chief financial officers.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: "There is a national shortage of suitably qualified chief financial officers, which means the recruitment market is challenging.

"Therefore, we need to pay the market rate to ensure we have an appropriately skilled and experienced interim in post.

"While we would prefer to have a permanent employee in this role, our priority is to have strong financial leadership in place.

"We have taken significant steps to stabilise our finances and continue to move away from a financial emergency into a recovery phase."

Original reporting: Daniel Mumby/LDRS

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