More financial irregularities at Folkestone & Hythe District Council

What is £5,553.96 + £0?

The answer according to Folkestone & Hythe District Council is £5,811.96.

What is £5,553.96 + £258?

The answer is according to Folkestone & Hythe District Council is £5,553.96.

This maths has been signed off by the Chief Executive of Folkestone and Hythe District Council, Dr Susan Julia Priest (pictured), and published in the Folkestone & Hythe Express 18 – 24 May 2022.

What is so worrying is this is such a simple thing to get right, and yet she and her team, can’t get these simple things right, as the published evidence below demonstrates.

The Shepway Vox Team have long had deep reservations about the maths and accounting of our council.

Given there has been the

P & R – £1.5m pound financial irregularity,

M & R – £200,000 financial irregularity,

Premier Roofing – £2.5m financial irregularity,

and countless other financial irregularities over the last seven years, one needs to be very concerned about the ability of council officer’s maths.

In last week’s Folkestone & Hythe Express 18 – 24 May, 2022 (page 24), a notice of how much each Cllr received in Basic allowances, Special Responsibility, ICT Allowance and Travel, Susbsistence (read food) and other allowances was published. The two addition issues can be seen below, they are the two lines highlighted in green, and Dr Priest’s name is highlighted below the allowances

Dr Priest and her team state publicly that Cllr Gary Fuller (Lib Dem) received £258 for his ICT Allowance, as is made clear in the document above. If one adds £5,553.96 + £258, the answer is £5,811.96, but the Council’s crack maths team has stated it comes to £5,553.96.

Since Cllr Gary Fuller (Lib Dem) was elected in May 2019, he has not claimed the ICT Allowance and has been the Cllr who has claimed the least during his tenure.

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Cllr John Wing (Green) received £258 for his ICT Allowance, but the document above – published by the council – says he didn’t. If one adds, £5,553.96 + £0, the answer is £5,553.96. But according to the council’s crack maths team it is £5,811.96.

This concerns us deeply, as information published by the council, to the world, is wrong, and makes claims which are NOT true and honest.

These two example demonstrate further financial irregularities at the council.

Now given this is financial information, then the person responsible for it is Charlotte Spendley, whose is the s151 Officer and has overall responsibility for all things financial.

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And given this is also a legal document, the person responsible for it is Amandeep Khroud, as she has overall responsibility for all things legal.

It’s clear the three Statutory Officers, mentioned above, who have overall responsibility to ensure their teams get information published to the world correct, are failing to oversee and ensure information published to the world is correct.

The elected Cllr responsible for corporate finance is Cllr David Monk (Con), who as you may or may not know, is a failed double glazing salesman four times over.

All residents should be concerned about any financial document they receive from the council, or which is published by the council, as the evidence above demonstrates they cannot get simple maths right.

With all that said, Cllrs allowance for 2021/22 on the Council website, does not make these simple mistakes and offers a contradictory spreadsheet, to that published in the newspaper. The website info does NOT get the maths wrong.

There are then two versions of Cllrs allowances for 2021/22, and we cannot honestly say which one is correct.

Perhaps, those responsible for maths and accountancy of the published Cllrs allowances have been to the creative school of accountancy run by Michael Stainer. We’ll leave you to decide that.

The Shepway Vox Team

Exposing financial irregularities at Folkestone & Hythe District Council since 2015