CAERPHILLY council looks set to put aside £314,000 to be used on wages for its suspended bosses over the next year, a report says.

Cabinet members will tonight be shown the provisional outturn for 2012/13, with it recommending that money be made available for paying suspended chief executive Anthony O'Sullivan and his deputy Nigel Barnett until March 2014.

The pair are currently suspended on full pay and have been arrested on suspicion of fraud and misconduct in public office, and bailed by Avon and Somerset Police, who are investigating the controversial top officers' pay rises at the authority.

Acting head of corporate finance Stephen Harris said in his report: "Clearly, the timescale of the of the suspension cannot be determined as investigations are continuing."

The money to pay them looks set to come from performance incentive grant monies that are no longer required.

The report also states that Caerphilly council finished the financial year £3.5 million better off than predicted.

But, of the £14.2 million it now has in its general fund, £4 million is set to be transferred for use in its secondary schools rationalisation programme and £1.5 million for its 21st Century Schools programme.

A further £50,000 from corporate services reserves will help establish a fund for improving governance at the local authority.

In the report, Mr Harris says the position is "very positive". There is a closing balance of £14,272,000 compared to a predicted £10,597,000.

However, he warned that there is a potential that cumulative savings of up to £20 million will need to be found from 2014/15 to 2016/17.

A large portion of the extra cash comes from a £1,630,000 underspend in the miscellaneous finances account. Increased recycling meant an additional saving of £276,000 while the local authority received an additional £316,000 for schemes transferred from the former Mid Glamorgan County Council.

There was a £21,000 underspend in social services, while the environment directorate posted an underspend of £635,000.

A big portion of this came from a £405,000 underspend in the regeneration and planning division, mainly due to staff vacancies, reduced operating costs and increased income from various visitor centres.

However, there was a £1.5 million surplus in the council tax collection fund.

- SUPPORTERS of the group Caerphilly Against the Bedroom Tax will march to the local authority’s headquarters before today’s full council meeting.

They will present a petition of 2,000 signatures calling for the controversial tax- which charges residents for each bedroom in their rented property- to be scrapped.

A spokesman said he hopes all Caerphilly councillors will support them.