Quote:
Originally Posted by Judith Addison
As a local councillor I would say that no politician, national or local, should be using the allowance or expenses system to their own advantage. We should all be honourable people whose conduct is above board. At Hyndburn I feel that the allowance system is proportionate to councillors' responsibilities. Leaders, cabinet members, chairs of committees, etc. are entitled to draw higher allowances for the work they do and the level of responsibility they have. Until my mother died a few months ago I had to claim carer's allowance when I went to full Council meeting as she couldn't be left on her own in an evening. However, the allowance only partially covered the cost of a Crossroads carer. I don't think councillors should be out of pocket for the work they do.
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Maybe you should have written to the leader of your party. He's intent on slashing benefits to people who need care. I think the Independent Living Fund is the next to go.
Surely your late mother would have been on some sort of care benefit like SDA or DLA which is supposed to pay for all her extra care needs. I'm not too well up on this but if she was receiving help from the state to help pay for her care shouldn't she have paid for this herself whilst you were on council business instead of you paying and then claiming from expenses.
Honestly not having a go here, and fair play to you for sticking your head above the parapet. you should most definitely not be out of pocket but isn't that why you get a basic allowance, just trying to get my head round who and what is supposed to pay for who and what.
