Croydon Conservatives have been asked to hand back every penny of its former leader’s secret pay rise after an inquiry ruled he breached the councillors’ code of conduct.

Last summer it emerged Conservative councillor and recently deposed council leader Mike Fisher had taken a pay increase of more than £13,500 through the Special Responsibility's Allowance (SRA), recommended through independent body the London Panel.

Sep 2014: Former council leader Mike Fisher quits after it emerges he accepted a secret £10,000 pay rise

This was despite the ruling Conservatives, in 2010, agreeing publicly not to take up increases allowed through SRA due to the challenging financial situation all council workers were facing at the time.

An independent review launched in September into Coun Fisher's actions, published as part of council papers ahead of next week's full council meeting, found he breached the member's code of conduct, but that he had not done anything illegal.

The inclusion of the line "at the time" in 2010 left the door open for allowances to be claimed in future.

In January, March and May last year Coun Fisher asked officers for payment of the higher rate special responsibility allowance from the financial year 2013/2014.

This meant instead of being paid £53,223 a year, his salary increased to £66,875.

On Croydon Conservatives website Coun Fisher said he took the decision to seek payment increases amounting to a £13,652, "in the interests of my family."

The inquiry found Coun Fisher broke the members code of conduct, both by taking a decision which would financially benefit his family, and by failing to be open and transparent about his actions.

It stated: "The situation involving Councillor Fisher demonstrates a lack of openness, transparency and public accountability."

Councillors Steve O’Connell, Vidhi Mohan, Steve Holland and former councillor Simon Hoar also all made enquiries about claiming their increased allowances, but declined to take the money.

New Labour council leader Coun Tony Newman, who called for the review, said: "The inquiry report exposes how every single Conservative councillor knowingly voted for a scheme (in 2010) that allowed their leader to help himself to public money in secret.

"The scheme, open to abuse by every senior Tory councillor, gave them the opportunity to line their pockets with an inflation-busting pay rise behind closed doors while claiming in public there wasn’t enough money to protect local services.

"Every Tory councillor was party to this deception and every Tory councillor must now take responsibility to put it right by repaying every penny.

"It’s an overused word but it’s nothing short of a scandal."

He said if the Conservatives repaid the money, it would be put back into council coffers.

Tim Pollard, new leader of the Croydon Conservatives, said: "That report has added nothing at all to what was known through statements issued by Coun Fisher and the Conservative party in September 2014.

"It confirms Coun Fisher was entitled to claim the allowances he did, that they were below the maximum amount to which the allowance scheme entitled him and that nothing illegal had taken place.

"Now Coun Newman is suggesting that the additional allowance Coun Fisher claimed should be repaid by the Conservative Party.

"This is blatant political gamesmanship, inspired by the impending General Election.

"As his independent report has not called for repayment, Coun Newman is doing it instead.

"If he wasn’t going to take any notice of its conclusions, why did he set the independent panel up in the first place?

"All he has done is waste considerable amounts of council officers’ time and money, yet added no additional information to the statements already put out by Coun Fisher."

Coun Pollard also questioned the logic of charging the Conservative Party for money claimed by an individual.

Croydon Guardian has tried to contact Coun Fisher to ask about the results of the inquiry but he had not returned our call at the time of going to press.