The job is SEPARATE to any other post and each Returning Officer receives a fee for doing the job (often in excess of £20,000 per election) and a budget. It seems Mr Williams had a budget of more than £121,000 in 2010 to run this procedure:
“The specified services are—
(a)conducting the election;
(b)discharging the returning officer’s duties at the election; and
(c)making arrangements for the election.”
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/830/made
He got it wrong in 2011 too:
Here are the Performance Standards for Returning Officers – standard 1 on page 12 appears to have been breached:
Click to access Part-A-Returning-Officer-role-and-responsibilities.pdf
East Devon Watch 