Re: Councillors expenses
 

I can start to answer my own questions now about the current rules

There are conditions about the person requiring care has to live with the Councillor and the carer can not be a member of the Councillors family or household and the identity of the carer must be told to the Council.

The rate of the carers allowance is current £9 per hour

Re: Councillors expenses
 

I don't agree with this, its worse that the 16 year old being cared for I think.
I think its ok to quote it directly as its a public document.

I would be interested to know how many Councillor's claim travel allowance from home to the Council.

We are talking about Local Council here so I would not expect any Local Councillors to live that far away.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

I can't see anything about receipts in any of the document so far.
There are some other things about it I don't like as well.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

I wonder if the chair of the Licensing Committee claimed his allowance for the three years when there was no meeting?

Licensing Committee

That'd work out at around £4,500 for nothing.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

My criticism hasn't any politically based bias.

I just think it's wrong.

Also, unlike others I never posted about seventeen year olds being claimed for, as it's payable up to that age. Though presumably some councillors will now claim for their children, right up until that child reaches their seventeenth birthday.

An age when many other people will be out working, paying tax etc.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

When does this transparency start, fanfared in by the coalition, which will force councils to publish all their spending, including allowances, on their websites?

Re: Councillors expenses
 

It must be hard looking after a hungry teenager when you're living in abject poverty on expenses of say, oh I don't know, £31k per year plus County Council expenses.

I'm grateful that I'm not a parent of a child in their mid-teens. With all these cuts that are going on I'd be worried about running out of money to pay for the cotton wool.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

I understand that Hyndburn is lagging behind a lot of other councils in that respect and it doesn't surprise me at all. If you're claiming anything from the public purse then you should be forced to declare it.

For the record, I get about £300 per month which includes and IT allowance to cover anything I might need at home. By claiming that I forfeit my right to have a free council laptop or a council internet connection installed at home. I probably spend an average of between 2-3 hours every day on council business and consider the basic allowance to be satisfactory for the hours I put in.

I personally think that chairs of committees are overpaid for what is actually required and that there are too many of them. Certain colleagues of mine have forgone their chairmanship allowance and instead put it into their own ward fund.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

I would be interested to know how that works as it does not mention it in the Constitution.

It does say this though

It also does not mention an IT allowance that I can see so far. Maybe its in another bit I have yet to read.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

Neil I don't claim any travel allowance from home to Council and I am pretty certain that no other Labour councillor does either, but I will check with the rest of the Labour Group and get back to you.

Incidentally the law regarding eligibility to be a district councillor states that you must either live or work in the local authority in which you are a councillor.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

I did you expect you would but I wonder if anyone does

I did not know that, thank you.
Do we have any Councillors who only work in Hyndburn but dont live here that you know of?

Re: Councillors expenses
 

I don't know about that, but I find this more than outrageous.

The employment committee never met between April 2005 and May 2010, but a Tory councillor claimed an allowance every year for chairing the committee. This amounted to £2765.51.

Also the Judical Committee (External Funding) never met in 2008-2009, and 2010-2011, but the chair claimed an allowance both years of £1432.78 in 2008-2009 and £1484.00

I'm not suggesting any actual rules were broken, but the fact this is possible is very wrong.

If this abuse of allowances was going on in a private company, the boss would be threatening those doing it with the police, and charges of fraud.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

The allowance is for being chair not chairing any meetings. I agree it does not sound right.
Maybe as common plebs we are mis understanding something and the committee chairs still have a lot of extra work to do even if the committees don't actually have meetings.

Re: Councillors expenses
 

:rofl38:

Re: Councillors expenses
 

Having the title of Chairman/woman, and claiming expenses when there have been no actual meeting to chair, is morally wrong. Even if it isn't breaking the Council's own self-regulated rules.