UPDATED: Call for a police inquiry rejected as Wirral Council is accused of a major cover-up (From Wirral Globe)

News RSS Feed Send your news, pictures & videos

UPDATED: Call for a police inquiry rejected as Wirral Council is accused of a major cover-up

12:50pm Friday 25th September 2009 in News By Craig Manning

Call for a police inquiry rejected as Wirral Council is accused of a major cover-up

A call for a police investigation into allegations of a cover-up and serious malpractice following an inquiry into systematic overcharging of people in Wirral Council care was rejected last night.

Feelings ran high as previously anoymous whistle-blower broke cover to tell councillors on the scrutiny committee that the authority had all-but ruined his life.

A special meeting of the committee had been called to study an internal audit report on a so-called "special charging policy."

The audit ruled people in “supported living” accommodation from 2003 were overcharged and the policy unlawful.

The overcharging only came to light when a former employee, who can now be revealed as Martin Morton, blew the whistle.

Having seen all approaches to his managers fail, he raised the alarm and brought the issue to the public's attention in the Wirral Globe last November.

Mr Morton addressed the committee and said that he had been bullied out of his job after voicing his concerns to his bosses.

He said: "It was a systemic failure of vulnerable people and nearly did for me. It was completely unacceptable.

"I regret losing my job, regret that this council made me ill through the appalling stress to me and particularly my wife.

Related links

"But I would do it again. I don't want to go to an early grave knowing that the council got away with an appalling abuse of power."

Mr Morton said he was paid £45,000 by the council to "go away and keep quiet."

The stress placed upon him had been so great he had to be hospitalised.

When he had finished his address and walked out of the committee room, clearly in a state of some emotional upset, Mr Morton received a standing ovation from some 30 members of the public.

At the end of the two-and-a-half-hour meeting at Wallasey Town Hall, committee members agreed that although overcharging was illegal from 2003, there was insufficient evidence to suggest it was unlawful since its first implementation in 1997.

The committee has called for a further investigation about when overcharging became an issue, and will meet to consider this at the end of the year.

Conservatives pressed for a police inquiry but this was rejected by the Director of Law as there was no evidence to suggest criminal activity.

Cllr Leah Fraser, who called for police to become involved, told the committee: “If the charging was unfair, it’s then unlawful.

"And if it’s unlawful it follows then that it’s illegal. You’ve wrongly taken money from people. I believe there is a matter for the police here.”

The audit report said the “special charging policy” was applied at three care homes in Wirral – but nowhere else in the borough. The policy was applied at Bermuda Road, Curlew Way and Edgehill Road, all in Moreton, between 1997 and 2006.

Until April, 2003, the report said, the charges levied were, "on balance," probably reasonable and lawful.

It stated people were overcharged a total of £116,000, with sums ranging from a few hundred pounds to more than £15,000.

A committee minute which had been made in September of 1997 turned up in the last fortnight of the auditors' review and, they wrote, "changed everything" as it proved the charging policy had been officially sanctioned by elected members of the council.

This ruling has been disputed by the Conservative group who claim the minute only sanctioned what was still "unlawful" policy.

The council has agreed to send a letter of apology to Mr Morton for the way he had been treated.

And at a meeting of the council cabinet last night, it was agreed to launch an investigation into Mr Morton's claims of bullying.

Cllr Simon Mountney, who has campaigned on behalf of Mr Morton, said: "It’s fantastic news. It has taken eight years to get this far, but perhaps we’re getting there now."

Comments(66)

Marleys Ghost says...
3:03pm Thu 24 Sep 09

It is now clear to everyone that the charges made in the Moreton supported living establishments were unlawful and should therefore be repaid. The debate now centres on whether these charges were excessive and thus unlawful from their inception in 1997 or whether they only became unlawful following Fairer Charges for Care which should have been implemented in 2003 but, in this case, was delayed until 2006. I think that plenty of evidence has been put forward to show that, beyond any reasonable doubt, these charges were excessive from the outset. They were more than double that of the highest charging neighbouring authority, and this at a time when most authorities were providing free care. Having Wirral’s Internal Audit paw over this ground for yet another month only serves to delay and obscure things still further. The Authority should now get on with reimbursing this money to these people as quickly as possible and in a way that will not affect their benefits.
However, I do agree with the Committee in saying that we still need further information. What we now need to know why was there a lengthy and expensive cover-up, who sanctioned it, and why the whistleblower, who we now know to be Martin Morton, was treated so appallingly? This is not a matter that can be left to Internal Audit as they are implicated by their own inaction in the past. The only way that these matters can be aired properly is for there to be a full independent public inquiry.