Wirral Council responds to claims of cover-up and malpractice (From Wirral Globe)
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Wirral Council responds to claims of cover-up and malpractice
4:34pm Thursday 24th September 2009 in News By Craig Manning
Council responds to claims of cover up and malpractice
FOLLOWING last night's meeting of Wirral's Audit and Risk Management committee, the council has issued the following response.
"The council recognises that the issues raised by the whistleblower in his initial grievance should have been dealt with more appropriately and sincerely apologises for the stress that it has caused.
"We continue to express our appreciation to him for raising these matters and providing evidence to the investigation.
"Since this investigation began, we have significantly improved internal procedures.
"This includes publicising the grievance and whistleblowing policies so that staff understand their rights to highlight concerns and managers are fully aware of their responsibilities in dealing with such issues.
"The report discussed by the Audit and Risk Management Committee focused on the issues investigated by the Audit Commission, namely the council’s application of the Department of Health’s Fairer Charging Policy and arrangements for the commissioning and monitoring of contracts for supported living and supported people services.
"The committee agreed that the director of Adult Social Services should seek cabinet and or council approval to make appropriate reimbursements dating back to 2003 in cases where service users may have been overcharged.
"In addition to this, further investigation was requested to establish when the council first suspected that service-users were being overcharged. The outcome of this investigation will be considered by members in November."
Comments(24)
piggymalone
says...
10:21pm Thu 24 Sep 09
Natasha Eubank
says...
10:38pm Thu 24 Sep 09
We have already been betrayed on an unparalleled scale through the heinous SAR.
But now, now the most vulnerable amongst us have the been the victims of the most appalling breach of trust by Council Officers.
Let us be clear about what has happened here. At any one point in time over the last 10 years or so, the Council could have put this right. Individual Council Officers elected NOT to. They were aware this was, in effect, institutional financial abuse, and they chose NOT to put it right.
They discussed it in the most cynical manner in inter-departmental emails. They use expressions like 'Cover's Blown' when referring to the potential disclosure of overcharging. They chose NOT to put it right.
I believe there are other ongoing issues which demonstrate that the Council has a reluctance to rectify financial abuse in such services.
So, when along came a person who voiced his concerns, this was a massive inconvenience.
At this point, the Council could have put this right. They chose NOT to. They chose to grind one man into the ground, rather than pay back some of the most vulnerable people in this borough the money they were rightly owed.
These are the people who are supposed to be working for our good.
Two of the most senior departmental staff who were implicated are back in post, by the way, the others, and there were a few, jumped ship (or were they pushed?), before this became public.
You see, because of this, we, the residents are going to get hammered by the council again in the next few years. We are facing massive cuts in public spending. This is inevitable. The Department of Adult Social Services are so far down the financial hole, the end result of this (and it's unlikely to be a hundred-odd thousand, but considerably more) is REALLY going to hurt.
It's going to hurt US!
Ultimately, we will suffer for this. The most vulnerable people on Wirral will suffer for this. Because of the high-handed arrogance and dishonesty of council officers.
Do we really want these people working for us? Senior Officers who view Wirral as their own personal playground, where decisions that affect the quality of peoples lives can be decided in the time it takes to write an email?
slumdog
says...
1:06am Fri 25 Sep 09
slumdog
says...
1:11am Fri 25 Sep 09
TheLooseCannon
says...
9:18am Fri 25 Sep 09
It reads:
"The report discussed by the Audit and Risk Management Committee focused on the issues investigated by the Audit Commission, namely the council’s application of the Department of Health’s Fairer Charging Policy and arrangements for the commissioning and monitoring of contracts for supported living and supported people services."
That is, at best misleading and at worst a downright lie.
The minutes of the Committee, dated 30 September 2008 show:
Item 20
Resolved (3) "That the officers be requested to investigate whether a charging policy had been in place dating back to 1999 and, if so, whether or not it had not been
approved by members."
At the meeting Internal Audit had to admit under close questioning that Martin Morton had given them 14 pages of documentation covering this but they had only bothered with "the bit we were looking into".
Why did they not speak up when the Committee was questioning exactly when Social Services officers realised the charges were unreasonable?
Why did they not say they already had the proof? For the same reason they told the same committee that I had not provided them with specific information - to assist with the monumental cover-up the Council's STILL trying to maintain?
It was only after my Councillor - who chairs the Committee - persisted several times on my behalf that they crawled back to admit they "had found a pencilled note of the information"
Last Wednesday, Madam Chairman was so wedded to her party's line that she protect the ruling Lab/LibDem stranglehold of the Council at all costs that she could not find even a soupcon of courage to ignore the bleatings in her ear from the Director of Law.
At a public external inquiry the right people would be asked the right questions, and more unpalatable truths would emerge.
Spiffy
says...
9:50am Fri 25 Sep 09
piggymalone
says...
10:23am Fri 25 Sep 09
Well, Martin it would appear to me that, rightly, you have 100% support from the residents of Wirral and indeed, from my contacts, numerous members of the social services team. Certain Wirral Council officers and councillors are committing the criminal offence of "malfeasance in public office" not only in this case but other matters and its about time that legal action was taken against the guilty parties.
Natasha Eubank
says...
11:50am Fri 25 Sep 09
A public officer acting as such;
Wilfully neglects to perform his duty and/or wilfully misconducts himself;
To such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in the office holder;
Without reasonable excuse or justification.
In view of this, perhaps Cllr. Southwood and Bill Norman (Director of Law) can explain why they stated a police investigation WASN'T appropriate in this instance??????
GotTheirNumber
says...
11:53am Fri 25 Sep 09
They will, won't they?
Bill Gates
says...
12:44pm Fri 25 Sep 09
I can confirm that the overcharging of disabled service users on the wirral still continues today with the full knowledge of the Wirral Social Services department and at least one of the officers that had been suspended. This abuse is present outside of the locations mentioned in the report and when exposed will form another phase of the Wirral Gate saga!
hugo2008
says...
6:13pm Fri 25 Sep 09
Grandstanding prior to elections when your seat is in jepardy does nothing for the local electorate
piggymalone
says...
8:47pm Fri 25 Sep 09
MX
says...
2:39pm Sat 26 Sep 09
You are right in every respect my porcine friend and we all must ensure that this one will not go away.
piggymalone
says...
9:03pm Sat 26 Sep 09
MX
says...
9:44pm Sat 26 Sep 09
However that will come later.We need to find out what's been going on here first.
I'm bursting with questions.
bigfoot
says...
11:09pm Sat 26 Sep 09
robo5o
says...
7:50pm Sun 27 Sep 09
MX
says...
9:53pm Sun 27 Sep 09
Not the namby-pamby "lessons have been learned" nonsense but long-term benefits that mean that all the people of Wirral will be better served by a more honest,decent ,open and transparent form of governance.
This will only happen when the truth is fully exposed and the Council respond appropriately.
Veridici
says...
7:59am Mon 28 Sep 09
Are any of them brave enough to now stand up and be counted alongside Mr Morton?
I understand he is still a non-person as far as senior officers are concerned, with any mention of his name banned.
What a way to run a department! If they had spent more time in doing their jobs than in desperately trying to cover up their mistakes, misdeeds and lies, the vulnerable people of Wirral they are paid to protect would have been far better seerved.
ACheshireObserver
says...
12:54pm Mon 28 Sep 09
As with Mr Gates above, I KNOW (and could prove) that this continues to go on, unabated, with other people, in other services not mentioned in the article.
What galls me most is this. The Council acts dishonourably at best, criminally at worst, and the extent of the investigation is an "inside job". An Internal Audit. Toothless. Unobjective. Covert.
It is just comical, an utter utter shambles.
Veridici
says...
12:48am Tue 29 Sep 09
Internal Audit has proved itself not only totally inept and inadequate, but just as corrupt as the peoople they investigate.
hugo2008
says...
8:37am Thu 1 Oct 09
Veridici
says...
1:54pm Thu 1 Oct 09
Now that our previous thread has been removed I need to try to reconstruct my last message to Willow Sherbet.
While I don't doubt your intentions are completely honourable, would the best way forward not be for you to request the Editor contact Mr Morton directly? He or his staff must have his contact details.
That way the Editor would be able to reassure him that any fighting fund would be set up officially by the Globe.
MX says...
7:31pm Thu 24 Sep 09
But they wouldn't know how to do the honourable thing would they?.
I wanted to be sick listening to what had gone on.Beyond belief.