So the politicians in Wirral are now arguing about whether they should force one another to resign over their financial abuse scandal.
But in the press coverage, the fact that the actual abuse and whistleblowing was an institution taking money it wasn't entitled to from real vulnerable people with learning disabilities seems to have got lost. Yes they are being compensated - reluctantly, after the council was ordered to by a judge, and they had to live in poorer circumstances while they were being cheated.
I don't really care which politicians resign - or not. I do care that this happened in the first place and I do want to see other councils make sure it isn't happening in their areas - and there isn't much evidence of this happening. My impression is that no individuals benefited from these people being cheated. It's just the finance department managed to save money for the council when it should have been social services in control, ensuring these people got what they were entitled to.
People should come before money, here concern over money took precedence over care for people. And politicians publicly battling over their own political skins without acknowledging what actually happened and who really got hurt, isn't very edifying.
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It's good however that you got a result on this, Ned. Money disappearing in this fashion is common and it's rare to get redress on it in court.
ReplyDeleteCan't take any credit for the redress - just felt it needed more publicity than it was getting. The whistleblower was the one who deserves credit - he was treated very badly and eventually when he refused to go away was actually offered a very large payoff - and turned it down. Hats off to Martin Morton for caring.
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