Southend councillors's claims are probed (From Echo)

Southend councillors's claims are probed

3:50pm Wednesday 23rd June 2010 in

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MULTIPLE travel claims for back-to-back meetings, and claiming for party group meetings are among the items councillors have “inappropriately” put on their travel expenses forms, a report says.

An internal investigation at Southend Council has found “irregularities” in the travel expenses claimed by members, but no fraud or wrongdoing.

The investigation, by the council’s audit team, was launched following concerns raised by opposition councillors Ron Woodley and Graham Longley about certain members’ expenses claims.

They said some members had claimed for mileage although they do not drive, or had claimed for longer distances than was accurate.

They also alleged some councillors made unlawful claims for going to party group meetings and civic events, such as church services and sports meetings, and not submitted receipts for taxi journeys.

The audit team looked at the claim forms submitted between April and December 2009 to see if the claims were among the “approved duties” of the council.

They said party meetings do not fall into this category, but it was unclear from council guidance whether claims for civic events were approved duties.

They also discovered some councillors who attended several meetings at the Civic Centre on the same day then “submitted a standard mileage claim from home to the Civic Centre for each meeting”.

The team, Vivien Burling and Linda Everard, concluded: “Significant weaknesses have been found in the guidance available to, and the process used by members, to make mileage and subsistence claims for expenses incurred and, as a consequence, some minor irregularities have been identified.

“There is no evidence to suggest any impropriety or deliberate fraud has occurred.”

The report says the council should stop claims for travel expenses in the borough and instead include a slight increase of the basic councillors’ allowance. Mr Woodley said: “I though the report was a bit diluted.

“The rules are clear and some councillors chose to not read them or ignore them.

“Myself and Graham instigated the investigation because we were annoyed certain councillors were claiming with disregard to the rules.

“Now there are new procedures in place, so it shouldn’t happen again.”

Tory leader Nigel Holdcroft said: “The amount of time spent on this current investigation is wholly out of proportion to the amounts being claimed.

“It’s massive overkill by Graham Longley and Ron Woodley.”

The report will be examined by the council’s audit committee tomorrow evening.

Tories’ claims make 90 per cent of bill for past nine years
TORY members have been accused of claiming 90 per cent of the £119,000 of council expenses over the past nine years. The claim was made by Labour councillor Stephen George, who also criticised the Tory administration for creating a new cabinet position, costing taxpayers £8,000 a year. But Tory leader Nigel Holdcroft said his members claimed more because they did more work, including their jobs as cabinet members in the ruling administration. The Tories currently make up 28 of the 51 council seats and have been the ruling administration since 2000. Speaking at a full council meeting, Mr George (Lab, Kursaal) said: “From May 2000 to April 2009, the total expenses claimed were just over £119,000 of which £104,000, or 90 per cent, was claimed by Tory members. “Do you think this amount is excessive?” Mr Holdcroft (Con, West Leigh) said: “No I don’t. “The reality is, allowances in this authority are significantly less than many similar authorities across the country. “Tory members earn larger allowances which reflects substantially larger amount of work they undertake. “If all members of the council spent the same amount of time in the council as Mr George, I would be concerned as to how any business could be conducted.”