A FORMER Carillion manager – the company whose work and collapse will cost Oxfordshire taxpayers millions of pounds – will work for the county council.

George Eleftheriou was a senior commercial manager for Carillion and was involved in managing part of the contract it had with Oxfordshire County Council.

From later this month, Mr Eleftheriou will be employed by the council on a salary of about £90,000 a year as one of six new assistant directors.

Mr Eleftheriou and the five other managers will be employed despite an unrelated new plan which consultants say could save it £58m a year – but 890 jobs might be lost as part of that.

In July 2017, the county council said it was going to end much of its contract with Carillion over worries over its work. But part of the contract over facilities management was retained. Mr Eleftheriou worked in this division.

Yet in January the company went bust – leaving the council to immediately take over the contract.

In July, the council said it had already spent £1.7m fixing problems with its buildings following work by Carillion and finding replacement contractors.

A source, who did not want to be named, said: “How are they going to feel when there are discussions around taking place about underperformance?

“It’s frightening in terms of possible reputational damage. I wouldn’t have thought that there are many authorities or companies that suffered at the hands of Carillion that are appointing [former staff] as managers.”

Paul Smith, Oxfordshire County Council spokesman, said: “George Eleftheriou was previously employed by Carillion.

“The recruitment was undertaken via a fair process – there was a number of applicants. The best person for the job was recruited via that process.

“George has a long track record of working in similar types of roles for a number of different organisations for a considerable period over many years. He started working for Carillion in 2016.”

Mr Smith added: “It is possible for good people to work for organisations who have a poor reputation.

“He isn’t currently working for the council – he starts his new role during September.”

Earlier this summer, Alexandra Bailey, the council’s director of capital investment and delivery, said the costs of how much it will need to pay following Carillion’s failures will only be known in the autumn – but the sum will be ‘very significant’.

Labour group leader Liz Brighouse said she had been against the partnership with Carillion ‘right from the beginning’.