Pembrokeshire council chief asked to pay back money

Bryn Parry Jones has been urged to resign

The chief executive of Pembrokeshire council will be asked to pay back thousands of pounds after salary supplements were ruled unlawful.

An extraordinary council meeting voted to instruct the council to write to Bryn Parry Jones and a second unnamed senior official asking for a gross sum of £45,606 to be returned.

Pension contributions were paid directly to the pair to avoid tax.

But a Wales Audit Office investigation found the payments to be unlawful.

Earlier this year the WAO said both Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire councils acted unlawfully by letting both Mr Parry Jones and Carmarthen chief executive Mark James opt out of the pension scheme to avoid potential tax payments.

The auditor said the decisions to allow certain officers to receive payments, and then for payments to be made, were unlawful on several grounds.

Mr James has stood down from his duties while police investigate.