THE county council still does not know how much faulty work by its former contractor Carillion will cost to put right.

In July, the council said it knew costs would be ‘very significant’ but that it would only know what that figure might be by the autumn.

As of this week, it is still working that out, council papers show.

The county council said it would pull out of an outsourcing deal with the firm in July 2017, concerned about its performance and the way its property contract was being dealt with. The firm had gone bust by January.

Projects affected included building works at Matthew Arnold School in Botley and West Witney Primary School. Work there should be done by July and August 2019 respectively.

The papers also show over the lifetime of the council’s deal with Carillion, the firm worked on 602 projects for the council. They varied in value from £5,000 to £10m. Overall, the contracts cost £123m.

Earlier this year, the council said it had spent £148m with Carillion.

Because of worries over the work carried out by Carillion and its contractors, the council said earlier this year that it would need to reassess work – but only if it cost £20,000 or more.

That was because minor works under that value would likely have ‘minimal risk or impact on service should any defects occur’. If there were problems, they should be ‘straightforward to rectify’.

In the summer, the council said it would need £1.7m to look at whether work done by the firm needed doing again. That figure remains the same.

Back in July, Alexandra Bailey, the council’s director of capital investment and delivery, said: “The collapse of Carillion has created financial and legal difficulties related to our properties, which we are working through in detail.

“We don’t yet know what the total cost will be but it will be very significant.

“I know this uncertainty is having an impact on service users and staff who use our buildings and I am sorry about the disruption and uncertainty this has caused.

“We have no choice but to go through each issue systematically and come up with a long-term recovery plan.”

When Carillion went into liquidation, former council staff were transferred back into the council’s employment.

Most of the staff formerly employed by Carillion were paid less than the council’s rates.

“The overall approach will be to align pay, terms and conditions of transferred staff with [council] arrangements. This has already been done for catering and cleaning staff,” the papers state.

Other remaining staff work in the facilities management department and proposals to change their pay will be implemented next year.

That will involve shaping a new operating model for that section.

The council’s audit and governance committee will hear of the current plans at a meeting on Wednesday.