Tag: expenses

Expense claim forms for Councillor David Elderton (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Expense claim forms for Councillor David Elderton (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Expense claim forms for Councillor David Elderton (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

                                                   

Our thrilling alphabetical series on councillors’ mileage expense claims to Wirral Council’s Human Resources department continues with Councillor David Elderton. Councillor David Elderton is a Conservative councillor for West Kirby and Thurstaston ward. We were supplied with ten pages relating to him and thankfully he seems to be submitting them on a monthly basis and actually filling them in!

It contains interesting details in it such as details of a briefing about Wirral Council’s Hoylake Golf Resort with that popular person at Wirral Council [officer name redacted]. In fact there are many redactions, which is probably why HR took about a month to do this.

I’ll point out it’s not Councillor David Elderton redacting this, it’s Wirral Council officers. The issue of a briefing for councillors in that area about the Hoylake Golf Resort was discussed at a meeting of Council so it’s nice to see it happened, albeit with Wirral Council’s usual air of secrecy about the whole matter. When are Wirral Council going to be open and transparent with the public about this matter instead of shrouding it in the veil of commercial interests and secrecy?

A lot of the rest of the pages are to do with Councillor David Elderton’s work on Wirral Council’s Planning Committee, its associated site visits and other committees that he is on. As he provides departure and arrival times it shows how long things take when a councillor lives at the other end of the Borough from Wallasey Town Hall. It’s a shame the redactions of it don’t help with understanding more about the work councillors do behind the scenes away from the gaze of the cameras and public.

Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 1
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 1
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 2
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 2
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 3
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 3
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 4
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 4
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 5
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 5
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 6
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 6
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 7
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 7
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 8
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 8
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 9
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 9
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 10
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim 2013 2014 page 10

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Expense claim forms for Councillor Phil Davies (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Expense claim forms for Councillor Phil Davies (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Expense claim forms for Councillor Phil Davies (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

                                                                 

Updated 22nd October 2014: A further page was provided for Councillor Phil Davies on the 17th October which is detailed here.

The next in this series of expenses claims is that for Councillor Phil Davies (a Labour councillor for Birkenhead and Tranmere ward). As part of the 2013-14 audit I requested the underlying claim forms for these claims from councillors and other underlying financial information. Personally I think in the interests of openness and transparency these should be published on a monthly basis, although there is now no legal requirement on Wirral Council to publish anything other than annual totals once a year.

Councillors are paid these amounts through the payroll system at Wirral Council and certain details were redacted from each form before I was given copies. These are matters such as councillor’s signatures, car registration numbers and officer names/signatures.

I haven’t been given a list of what’s been redacted from each form, but I was told this information. The forms were given to me this morning alphabetically by councillor surname, so the second in this series (which started with another councillor called Davies, but not Phil but George) is Councillor Phil Davies.

These are for expenses claimed during the 2013-14 financial year (so should cover the period from the 1st April 2013 to the 31st March 2014). If anything it shows the public how busy Councillor Phil Davies has been in that year, however as Leader of the Council that’s to be expected.

I did also ask for the underlying financial information to support these claims forms such as receipts, but the person I originally made the request to is now on holiday and such paperwork has not been provided to me (yet). Who knows what will happen in the near future as the 30th September 2014 deadline fast approaches?

Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 1
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 1
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 2
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 2
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 3
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 3
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 4
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 4
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 5
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 5
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 6
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 6
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 7
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 7
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 8
Cllr Phil Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 8

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Expense claim forms for Councillor George Davies (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Expense claim forms for Councillor George Davies (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

                                                                 

Wirral Council councillors in addition to what they get paid for their official duties (called allowances), they also have an expenses system too. As part of the 2013-14 audit (as I have a legal right to) I requested the underlying claim forms for these claims and other related bits and pieces. Personally I think like the MP expenses issue, these in the interests of openness and transparency should be published on a monthly basis, although there is no legal requirement on Wirral Council to publish anything other than annual totals once a year.

Councillors are paid such amounts through the payroll system at Wirral Council and certain details have been redacted from each form before I was given copies. These are matters such as councillor’s signatures, car registration numbers and officer names/signatures.

I haven’t been given a list of what’s been redacted from each form, but I have been told this information. The forms were given to me this morning alphabetically by councillor surname, so the first in this series is Councillor George Davies (who is a Labour councillor for Claughton ward).

These are for expenses claimed during the 2013-14 financial year (so should cover the period from the 1st April 2013 to the 31st March 2014). If anything it shows the public how busy Councillor George Davies has been that year, ranging from his duties as a Cabinet Member, his work on the Pension Committee to other matters he is involved in.

I did also request the underlying financial information to support these claims forms such as receipts, but the guy I originally made the request to is on holiday and such paperwork has not been provided to me (yet). Who knows what will happen in the near future as the 30th September 2014 deadline fast approaches?

Updated 21/10/2014: A further four pages of Cllr George Davies’ expense claim forms were provided on the 17th October 2014.

Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 1

Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 2

Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 3

Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 4

Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 5
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 5
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 6
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 6
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 7
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 7
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 8
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 8
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 9
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 9
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 10
Cllr George Davies expense claim 2013 2014 page 10

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The incredible £754,783.18 that Wirral Council councillors cost (plus amounts for the Mayor & Deputy Mayor)

The incredible £754,783.18 that Wirral Council councillors cost (plus amounts for the Mayor & Deputy Mayor)

The incredible £754,783.18 that Wirral Council councillors cost (plus amounts for the Mayor & Deputy Mayor)

                      

To very little fanfare (compared to the local newspaper coverage that used to go with the annual publication of MP’s expenses), Wirral Council has published on its website what it paid each of its councillors for 2013-14 with a breakdown by basic allowance, responsibility allowance, telephone rental (although this is a £NIL amount for everyone on that list), expenses, subsistence, travel expenses and car mileage. Despite replying to a FOI request and stating this was part of Wirral Council’s “openness and transparency” it is in fact a legal requirement that they publish this information annually (if you’d like to leave a comment referring to the specific Act of Parliament or regulations that require them to do this feel free).

This list includes three people who aren’t councillors but are “independent persons” and are appointed by Wirral Council councillors. These three have a role set down in law in dealing with complaints about councillors. They are also co-opted on Wirral Council’s Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee (whose next scheduled meeting has been cancelled).

Unlike the councillors none of these three get a basic amount, but receive £25 for each meeting they attend of the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee. In addition to this they are able to claim car mileage for meetings associated with their role. The annual amounts for these three are the smallest on the list being £90.80 (Dr. Burgess-Joyce), £122.40 (Brian Cummings) and £208.10 (RS Jones).

For the politicians, the lowest annual amount paid was to Cllr Matthew Patrick of £3,794.14. This is because he was only elected part way through that year in October 2013 in the Upton by-election. The by-election in Upton happened because of the death of Cllr Sylvia Hodrien, who also appears in the list receiving a part year amount of £4,373.84. Former Councillor Darren Dodd is the only other name to receive a part year amount of £6,019.11 as he resigned part way through the year and moved to Leeds.

The rest received the basic allowance of £8,712.48. In addition to this amount roughly half receive an extra responsibility allowance which for this financial year applied to thirty-three out of the sixty-seven councillors. An extra responsibility allowance is paid to the ten members of the Cabinet (generally an extra £9,171 although the Leader receives £22,927), chair of a committee, leader or deputy leader of a political group etc. The largest responsibility allowance paid was to Cllr Phil Davies of £22,926.96 (this is in addition to the basic allowance of £8,712.48). The smallest amount (that wasn’t £NIL) paid as a responsibility allowance was to Cllr Lesley Rennie of £203.38.

In total (the councillors and independent persons) claimed a total of £5,171.75 in car mileage payments, £490.99 in subsistence payments (this a meals allowance when they’re away from home for over four hours) and £1,684.64 in “expenses”.

The total cost (from this list) to the taxpayer for 2013-14 for the councillors and three independent persons was £754,783.18.

For some obscure reason I’m not really sure of, in earlier years the amount that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are paid is published separately. This doesn’t seem to have been done yet this year (at the time of writing), but in 2012-13 came to a total of an extra £12,228.80. I would guess that the amount for the mayoralty in 2013-14 would be a similar amount to this.

A number of councillors also represent Wirral Council on outside bodies. There are two councillors who represent Wirral Council on the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority are paid an extra £1,834 each. These amounts are paid directly by Wirral Council to these councillors.

There are other outside bodies such as Merseytravel (four councillors from Wirral Council) and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority (four councillors from Wirral Council). These two pay these councillors directly extra amounts for these extra responsibilities. A list similar to the one Wirral Council produces is published on their organisation’s website annually. These amounts are not included in this list from Wirral Council as such payments are made directly to councillors by those bodies rather than through Wirral Council.

A resolution to Council in previous years required Wirral Council to publish these extra amounts received too from bodies funded through the council tax such as Merseytravel, the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority and until it was abolished and replaced with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside & Police and Crime Panel, the Merseyside Police Authority.

As with the complicated scheme in place at Wirral Council, these amounts can vary quite considerably from a basic allowance that all receive to large amounts for the Chair.

Taking one public body, the figures for Merseytravel (which is now part of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority) haven’t been published on Wirral Council’s website for 2013-14, but the 2012-13 figures show that Wirral Council councillors received a basic allowance each of £5,202.13 (with part year payments to Cllr Blakeley and Cllr Foulkes), an extra special responsibility allowance for three councillors ranging from £1,095.38 to £4,063.29 as well as travel & subsistence payments ranging from nothing claimed to £997.99.

So, although the “cost of democracy” at Wirral Council is at least £754,783.18, in addition to this amount is the cost of the Mayor & Deputy Mayor and the currently difficult to find amounts councillors receive for representing Wirral Council on outside bodies (which Wirral Council should following a resolution agreed by Wirral Council publish on its website but in recent years hasn’t).

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Ex-Labour Minister/MP Eliot Morley Found Guilty of Expenses Fiddles

Eliot Morley

Eliot Morley, an ex-Labour minister claimed for a mortgage that didn’t exist. When questioned about this claim he initially said “I do not believe any offence has been commited”.

For 2 years he claimed £800 a month in mortgage interest for a mortgage that didn’t exist. He overclaimed by £15,800 when he did have a mortgage. In total he fleeced the hardworking taxpayers of this country of £30,482. In addition to this he was renting off one of his homes to another MP and getting a further £1000 a month this way.

The home he rented was classed as his main home. Below is an email from the MP himself trying to explain things. The actions of Labour MPs, whether the lies of Phil Woolas triggering a byelection or expenses scandals have had a very, very damaging effect on democracy. He will be sentenced in due course.

:-

from MORLEY, Elliot

to Holly Watt

date 13 May 2009 15:36

subject RE:

I do not believe any offence has been commited. I have reported this to the Finance dpt and chief whip I have made a mistake I apologise for that and I take full responsibility. I realised the mistake when I received my reciepts. I took immediate steps to raise the money and it has already been sent to the Finance dpt. There may be an adjustment for what I have paid on the endownment but I may be out of time. My prioity was to repay and if I suffer finaciallly as a result of that I have only myslf to blame.

The claim by Mr Cawsey was enterily legitimate The mortgage then was 900 per month council tax 100 I paid for furnishing and other costs. It had to my main home as a minister. When I claimed on London I renogiated the mortgage. Part had been paid off so I could claim a lower amount from that time. The mortgage in my constituency was interst only on an accelareted payment to reduce costs. My mistake was not to keep track and I repeat I have taken action to rectify that. I have not had any income on London and have used rent received to reduce the morgage reducing the claim to the taxpayer.