EXCLUSIVE: 10 more invoices paid by Wirral Council including £3,683 for a shower and £10,450 for windows
The first document is for £7,500 to WIRED for a review of Wirral Council’s foster care service. No more information than that was given so I made this FOI request yesterday to see if there was a written report.
Next is another payment to WIRED, this time for £9,902 for a “parent partnership”. This is now called the SEND Partnership and is according to their website a service to provide “free information, advice and support about matters relating to Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) and is for parents or carers of children aged 0-25, and young people aged 16-25 with special educational needs and/or disabilities”.
In a similar format to the above, is a payment to Marigold Day Nursery of £1,600.50 for the Spring term in 2014.
An identical payment of £1,600.50 was also made to Thingwall Pre School and Playgroup for the 2014 Spring term.
The next invoice is for £3,683.00 from JBC Builders and Disability Adaptions Limited. It’s for a shower and associated works at a private address.
The next invoice is for £1,080 from Maple Leaf Designs Ltd and is for design charges for work at Mersey Park Primary School.
I’ve blacked out the name of the person the below invoice from Scope refers to. The invoice is for £520.37, paid on 4th March 2014 and replaces an earlier invoice from 2010 due to an incorrect charge.
The next invoice has a number of acronyms that need explanation. TMV stands for thermostatic mixer valve (a valve that mixes hot and cold water for a tap). CYPD stands for Children and Young People’s Department. The invoice is from Hertel Solutions Limited for £10,886.30 and is for TMV servicing at various CYPD properties (presumably schools).
This invoice is for £10,450 worth of work done by Everite Windows. A deposit of £5,250 has already been paid so they are only asking for the rest of £5,200. PSHR on the stamp refers to private sector housing renewal.
The last invoice is for £1,732 from Manor Cottage Care Limited is for someone at a residential care home called Manor Cottage Residential Care Home which is in Beckspool Road, Frenchay, Avon, Bristol. I have blacked out the Wirral address and postcode of this person which was in the second panel.
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So if you are given work to do from Wirral Council seems to be skies the limit on what you can charge, or get away with!
But £3.000 for a shower seems over the top! that would pay my rent for a year.
I too felt £3,683 seemed too high, even taking into account taking away the existing bath, some tiling, some electrical work and moving a toilet & radiator.
The contractor might be able to get something from a scrap dealer for the old bath too but the invoice doesn’t mention whether the old bath was recycled like that or just taken to the tip.
I wonder why they still stink even with new shower.
Get rid of rott(en)ing councillors and officers.
Bring in the Administration.
Ooroo
James.
To do the Checks and Balances properly, you have to know what is coming in and what is going out, you also have to know what you are looking for in Invoices and Bills Paid. In most of the particular items posted, your not looking at what was purchased your looking at who purchased them (Goods/Services, Procurement. price Paid, etc).
You have also to take in other variables. The Spreadsheets you posted, although they show, what you are looking for, they show what is Missing also, if in doubt mistake, mistake and incompetence or lessons to be learned.
This is why I say to you and your circle of Bloggers between you, you have all the answers that you seek, Remember?
What’s the significance of the two payments to nursery schools? Aren’t they just part of the funding that the nurseries are entitled to as part of the offer for 2 year olds accessing free education?
Quite Right Inquisitive
Thank you for your questions. As it states “Payments of Two Year Old Funding” at the top of each page for those two, I think it’s safe to assume that the payments are to do with two year olds at both places.
The early years funding does go to Wirral Council first and then to the providers. As to your first question, most of the invoices I requested related to legal invoices or expenses. I also requested some invoices relating to large expenditure.
The requests for the detail behind the payments to was (if I remember correctly) because on the monthly lists of payments over £500 for March 2014 the invoices for both Thingwall Pre School and Playgroup and Marigold Nursery were described as “Legal Service Provider”.
I was therefore curious as to whether they did actually relate to legal expenses paid by Wirral Council, or (as it did turn out) had just been incorrectly described.