A Public Scandal

[craig finton]

Taking things back to 'ground level', so to speak and putting to one side all of the questions about Ms Wilcox's personal behaviour, is it not patently obvious that this woman is no manager - of any variety. She has twice, so far, found herself being taken to an Industrial Tribunal for paying less than the minimum wage, not providing contracts of employment etc. The organisation that she 'manages' has been found to have shambolic accounts and financial control, she uses her position to provide favour to her friends and family and refuses to pass on information to board members.

Compare all of this to what would happen in the private sector where she would have been out on her proverbial ar** long before now.

If Manor Residents has any future, then surely it must be without this woman, her cronies and a board of Trustees that could easily and just as effectively be replaced by a collection of Swiss Cheese plants. 

[steveL]

  that's one way of putting it.....the worrying thing is that it's probably true.

[steveL]

There's a good chance that 'the spokesman' is none other than Trustee, Stephen Akers-Belcher. It can't be Wilcox and none of the other Trustees are vocal enough to suggest that they think they have the authority to say anything.

I've just got hold of a copy of The Mail and it's clear that this is being passed off as a routine audit exercise but again this is a lie. This audit is a direct result of a cabinet decision in January/February that an audit should be carried out on Manor Residents and Who Cares(NE) before any move to give Who Cares(NE) the third-year contract. For some reason, the Who Cares(NE) part of the audit seems to have not happened.

There's a clear suggestion here that the 3rd year contract will still be given to Who Cares(NE) on the assumption that the necessary changes will have been implemented.

Given that the conditions imposed when the original contract itself was first awarded were never followed through, HBC has no mandate to proceed on the same flawed basis.

There is absolutely no way that Who Cares(NE) should be given that 3rd year extension.

In fact, I would say that no further monies should be handed over to MR until Wilcox and the current Trustees are out of it and someone is put in who knows how to account for it.

[steveL]

They are two totally and completely separate entities connected only by address, telephone number, accountants, personnel, management, transport and funding.

Hope I've made that clear 

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

They are two totally and completely separate entities connected only by address, telephone number, accountants, personnel, management, transport and funding.

Hope I've made that clear 

Oh well, everything is fine then ... 

[The Great Dictator]

I wonder if Tom Mitchell has seen this corrupt document.

[fred c]

There are 2 points in the Mails article about the report that could be easily substantiated if the will to do so was there.

Wilcox states that the "Main Business" account was subjected to External Fraud, it that was the case the police would surely have been called in to investigate the crime if so, the result of any such inquiry should be readily available.

Wilcox also mentions she was unaware of the £40,000 pounds in a second bank account, the Auditors should have no problem in Identifying Who Opened the account & be able to access  Statements of the accounts usage.

The management of Manor Residents has obviously been surrounded by Total Incompetency & as a ratepayer I think it would be prudent of HBC to cease any further funding or support for this organisation until a Full & Independent Audit is carried out.

There are 4 councillors who have, or have had connections with Manor Residents, 1 as manager, 2 as Trustees & another as accountant, what does that say about "The Mob" clearly not a lot.

There has been no review of Individual Contracts of employment, why? Surely it would be informative to know the salaries of the senior management, especially as it appears to have been so incompetent.

Some of the business practices are so unprofessional as to be almost unbelievable, why if Manor Residents & WC(N/E) are separate companies why are Manor Residents funding the salaries of WC(N/E) employees ? Why if they are separate companies are Manor Residents paying WC(N/E) petty cash payments & for how much ? Why if they are separate companies are Manor Residents paying Petrol costs for WC(N/E) vehicles?.

There is something deeply unhealthy in the way the Voluntary / Charity Sector is funded in Hartlepool & it is now all too apparent as to why the Peer Groups Report was so critical about how HBC & certain Councillors function.

It is also obvious to the proverbial "Blind Man on a Galloping Horse" that HBC are attempting to play down this report, the question as ratepayers we need to ask is Why?

"Something is Rotten in the State of Denmark"

[mk1]

Wilcox states that the "Main Business" account was subjected to External Fraud,

I am suprised they noticed it given the scale of the internal fraud!

More likely creditor action that resulted in the frozen account and Angie had to use her cash-stash to keep MR running until the fa*tty Belchers could bung her another  600k
It was an expensive  mistake. It left a paper trail proving  she was running a shadow account.

[steveL]

The report does speak of bouncing Direct Debits.

[pensionater]

I can't work out how everyone paid the same tax yet some weren't paid at all,some were on less than the minimum wage and Ged only knows what her family members were raking in.

[mk1]

I can't work out how everyone paid the same tax yet some weren't paid at all,some were on less than the minimum wage and Ged only knows what her family members were raking in.

Employees were having money deducted from wages (if the were lucky enough to be paid) and it was being kept by the Wilcox clan!
I would  be surprised if  less  than  200k was being diverted (via wages) to the family

[mk1]

i cant rememer the exact date but it would be between 2000 and 2005 and her daughter was 13 at the time and they lived on wynyard road, it made front page headlines of the mail

The more details I get the quicker I find it.
Was her daughter 13 or you think she was 13?
How old is the daughter now?

[intheloop]

IT JUST WON'T WASH'Changes Pledged After Damning Report'The credibility of Hartlepool Borough Council is in tatters today as it continues to try to play down the results of its own negligence and complacency. More than two years after it opted out of the normal tendering process to award a £680,000 contract to a company set up by Labour Councillors Angie Wilcox and Kevin Cranney, it has produced a damning report into the financial management of that company's parent organisation Manor Residents Association, itself managed by Councillor Wilcox.

reading the above section i have to laugh because if people can remember ms wilcox was involved in another charity (OFCA) for which mr cranney was also involved and he was taken to court on fraud charges and ms wilcox was star witness for the prosecution (she even asked for police protection against mr cranney). at the time she and mr harriman had set up CVT, when it went to court she was laughed out and told she was pathetic by the judge and lucky not to be on perjury charges. her and cranney hated each other since and so it amazes me that he is again involved with ms wilcox in setting up Who Cares (NE), she is just one big joke

[mk1]

I also believe the root of the problem is Wilcox using MR  as a vehicle for giving  her family & mates highly paid jobs that they simply can not manage. They are way out of their depth and were bound to bring MR to its knees.
Not to worry. The fa*tty Belchers will do all in their power to sweep it under the carpet. The domino effect  you see................

[intheloop]

she was definatly 13