HE CORRUPTION OF CORNWALL HOMECHOICE, 17/06/14

Pictured is Cornwall Council’s CEO Andrew Kerr.

Blog entered 17 June 2014

                                THE CORRUPTION OF CORNWALL HOMECHOICE

Logged into my Cornwall Homechoice Account on Saturday 14 June 2014 and I was told there were 19 (CBL) properties I was elegible to bid on. Clicked on the link to view them and was passed to a blank page. Tried again a number of times over the weekend but still no properties.

Sent the Council a series of numbered Tweets over the weekend to find out why and after first checking the Council’s Website for any announcements.

Lodged a formal complaint on the Council’s Website Monday morning and Tweeted the Council to ensure I receive a Ref No. as soon as possible. The Council did respond to my Tweets but did not answer why there was no Homechoice properties and also failed to give me a complaint Ref No.. (+)

Sent Tweets to @andychariots, the Council’s CEO Andrew Kerr, @stephen_gilbert, our MP, @LGOmbudsman, the Local Government Ombudsman, over the day but received no reply or explanation. Tweeted a request to all Cornwall Councillors in the evening but again received not a single reply. Shame on you all.

One would think a service provided for the public would be accountable and would be transparent. That the likes of CEO Andrew Kerr and Stephen Gilbert MP would be accountable to a local resident, tax payer and constituent. That Homechoice applicants should be entitled to expect an explanation or a public announcement.

(+) (The 1st Stage of the Complaints procedure gives the Council 10 days to respond. The Council is wilfully delaying a complaint Ref No. to unfairly extend the amount of time it has to stop it becoming an official complaint. When I lodged the Complaint I received an acknowledgement from the Council which is when I will date the Complaint from. Internal delays should not become an added insult to injury so to speak).

Footnote : If any reader of this would like to key in ‘Cornwall Homechoice’ click on the Link ‘Property Search’ and click on the Link ‘Social Housing’ and let me know what you found I would be extremely grateful. This must be done before the end of  Wednesday 18 June 2014, thanks.

MINUTE BLOG.

Blog entered 12 June 2014.

Mr Warner advised that “Homechoice Policy is set by Members of Cornwall Council and it was his job to implement it”.

“Policy 23.7 First Reviews – First reviews are re-assessed by the Welfare Panel that made the original assessment”.

Perhaps Cornwall Council, or the LGO, would like to explain why the Council was allowed to disregard Policy 23.7 at a First Review on 27 November 2012 ?

Jon Warner is the Cornwall Homechoice Manager – West/Central teams, Cornwall Housing Ltd.

Perhaps Warner’s partner in crime Rachel Lytham, Housing Needs Officer, Cornwall Housing Ltd, would like to explain why she commented on the First Review Form “Need information from Mental Health professional re Mrs McL condition”, when a Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) attended the “original  assessment” but neglected to intervene and failed to attend the First Review ?

My wife, the Mrs McLaughlin referred to, died within a year of the First Review aged 54, and died with Low Welfare Priority.

(LGO = Local Government Ombudsman)

MINUTE BLOG.

Blog entered 5 May 2014

CORNWALL HOMECHOICE WELFARE PRIORITY ASSESSMENTS.

                     “FIRST REVIEW”

Question : When is a “First Review” Welfare Priority Assessment not a “First Review” Assessment ?

Answer : When the Local Government Ombudsman decides to engage in wilfull blindness to protect Cornwall Council before the public interest.

(A “First Review” is Cornwall Council Policy and the Council broke this Policy in our case. Thanks to a corrupt Ombudsman we may never know how many other members of the public are also being wilfully abused by the Council).

Quotation : the Local Government Ombudsman “Operate the most perverse and publicly criticised system of administrative justice in the world”, unquote.

MINUTE BLOG.

Blog entered 5 June 2014.

Well I for one would certainly feel “safer” if the D&CP or the IPCC would finally explain to me why an Investigating Officer stated the written complaint against me was dated 5 April 2012, when internal records prove I was being investigated weeks before then. A written complaint which led to my arrest, detention and intimidation by 3 Officers who wilfully colluded to break the law.

Devon & Cornwall Police. Building safer communities for the rich and powerful.

SANCTUARY HOUSING WEEKLY EMAIL, PART ENTRY, 2/05/2014

Blog entered 3 June 2014.

For the last 2 years or so I have sent a weekly email to Sanctuary Housing’s Managing Director Simon Clark, ex Group Director Rosemary Crawley and CEO David Bennett, which now runs to 12 pages. Stephen Gilbert MP was sent the full 12 page copy and Cornwall Council’s Fraud Benefit Office was sent the following part entry because it involves Fraud by Sanctuary Housing again. I quote :

“2 June 2014, I today report receiving a further letter from Ms Harding dated 28 May 2014 against my expressed wishes of 8 April 2014, because Ms Harding, like her boss Richard Keeley, is a liar and is untrustworthy. The following reply to her letter, in paragraph form, is therefore addressed to you Mr Clark and the CEO to answer. I assume the reason you are still using Harding is because she is expendible.

Paragraph 1, While the gardener continues to maintain the Play Area within the allocated time, as is the case, the residents continue to be deceived into paying for something they never agreed last year.

Paragraph 2, I have made no up-dates on the void property since 19 May 2014, because I believe it may be occupied. Why would I not believe you ? Because you all habitually lie about things – I take your point.

Paragraph 3, I refer you to the answer I gave in paragraph 1. In answer to the “allocated general scheme attendance times”, perhaps you, or the CEO, will explain Mr Clark why no maintenance visit was made to Timber Close by the Estate Team w/e 1 June 2014. Why increased litter and rubbish from children being off school still remains around the scheme ? Why “Bennetts Rubbish Dump” looks and smells as big a health hazard as it did the previous week when it also was not cleaned ? Why the residents paid Sanctuary in excess of £140.00 for nothing ? , and why I must report the matter to Cornwall Council, Stephen Gilbert MP and others.

Paragraph 4, I am well aware a scheme inspection was carried out on 13 May 2014 by an Officer who spent much of her time at No 2 Timber Close with, presumably, the Housing Officer. Although the Officer did briefly walked around the flats communal area she did not inspect “Bennetts Rubbish Dump”. Had she done so she probably would have thrown-up. The reason she observed no significant rubbish around the scheme that afternoon was because the Estates Team, all one of him, picked up any litter and rubbish soon after he arrived earlier at 12.20pm.

Given the articles covered in the Voice magazine for Spring 2014, the aforementioned ‘paragraphs’ are a disgraceful testament of how you Mr Clark and your corrupt boss CEO Bennett go about your business”, unquote.

Yours sincerely

Geoff McLaughlin

IPCC LAST EMAIL, 29/05/2014

Blog entered 3 June 2014.

Email dated Thurs 29 May 201, and was the result of me seeking clarification about the IPCC’s decision to do little about the corrupt collective conduct of a Sargeant and 2 Officers based at St Austell Police Station, Cornwall, and another Sargeant, the Investigating Officer (I/O), who investigated them on behalf of the same Devon & Cornwall Constabulary. The Appeal took some 15 months to conclude and was a whitewash. The Sargeant and 2 Officers were each given “Management Action” and the IPCC disagreed with aspects of the I/O’s Investigation.

Dear Ms V******

Thanks for the fuller explanation.

Let’s be clear, what happened on the day I was arrested and detained demonstrates a catalogue of collective errors and wilfull misconduct by the Sargeant and 2 Officers, and a wilfull failure by the I/O not to properly investigate the evidence and to cover up what went on.

I am particularly annoyed that you did not re-investigate the complaint with regards to the evidence I submitted, and which remains un-investigated and un-resolved, but you did re-investigate the complaint in allowing the Officers an opportunity to defend themselves against the complaint.

Do you honestly believe the Sareant when he stated he was of the opinion I was “unemployed”, having spent weeks investigating Blogs on a website called “Geoff’s Cameras” which had photographic equipment for sale ? A website you yourself acknowledged was called “Geoff’s Cameras” and was a “business” website.

Do you honestly believe the I/O was telling the truth about the Complainant’s written complaint being dated 5 April 2012, when internal documents show I was under investigation weeks before then ?

I have already analized your correspondence of 9 May 2014 and completed a Summary which has been sent to a law firm specialising in complaints against the police. If they are not interested I will try others. If they are not interested I will try every law firm in the country. If that fails I will lobby every MP and Lord in Parliament.

The crux of the matter is 3 Officers collectively and wilfully did things they should not have done and an I/O attempted to wilfully cover it up.

Yours sincerely

G R McLaughlin

OPEN LETTER TO SIMON CLARK REGARDING THE VOICE MAGAZINE, SPRING 2014.

Pictured is the front cover of Sanctuary Housing’s “Voice” Spring 2014 Magazine.

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Blog entered 21 May 2014

Hello Simon

Re : The Latest edition of Sanctuary Housing’s Spring 2014 “Voice” Magazine.

In reply to “we’d love to hear from you about what you’d like to see and how we can improve the magazine”, I really do appreciate you giving me the opportunity, truly.

I suppose the biggest improvement I can personally suggest is for Sanctuary to stop using so much manure when writing about Grounds Maintenance issues such as that to be found on pages 17 and 18. Perhaps Sanctuary could also stop telling residents how happy they are or should be based on what limited or misleading information is offered to them.

With regards to Grounds Maintenance it would have been more informative to tell readers about the ‘Grounds Maintenance Specification’ which sets out what Sanctuary should do for the Service Charge it takes. That this Specification is available to residents in their areas and which will assist them monitor how well Sanctuary is really doing, or not doing, or if Sanctuary is frauduently stealing from them, as is the case where I live and since 2009.

This would really benefit residents Tell You What They Really Think on pages 15 and 16.

As you know Timber Close has of some 50 properties and Sanctuary’s in-house Maintenance Estate Services Team, a gardner (singular) visits on Tuesdays for 2 hours. The tasks specified in the Specification are usually ignored and the weekly Service Charge amounts to in excess of £140.00 per 2 hourly visit or in excess of £560.00 per month for 8 hours work.

You will recall I can only give a conservative estimate because you, for and on behalf of Sanctuary and CEO David Bennett, have refused to let me know how much weekly service charge my neighbours pay.

I was particularly interested in the reference ‘Communal areas cleaning’ regarding ‘bin storage areas’ cleaned of any rubbish.

As both you and Bennett have been made fully aware via weekly emails, both Richard Keeley, Head of Housing Operations (South West) and Helen Harding, Operations Manager – South West, lied when they stated the bin store, now renamed “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump”, is checked on a weekly basis according to Keeley and every Tuesday according to Harding.

In reality “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump” is not checked or cleaned at all as demonstrated yesterday when the “Estate Teams” gardner visited and once again left “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump” looking like an uncleared, uncleaned, unhealthy and hazardous shit-hole when I had to use it this morning.

You will recall a series of emails not so long ago when I advised you and Bennett of items other than household waste which had been dumped in the store. That the series of up-dated emails ran every week for some 15 weeks before the ‘Maintenance Team’ finally entered into “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump” and finally removed the items.

I am particularly annoyed the gardner was not observed doing anything yesterday other than pick up litter and that Sanctuary had again wilfully engaged in fraud in not clearing and cleaning “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump” or carrying out the tasks indicated in the ‘Grounds Maintenance Specification’, but which Sanctuary still benefited from financially.

Need I remind you and Bennett that Cornwall has a serious rat problem at the moment and that you pair of rodents risk only making matters worse.

Finally, I am drawn to the article’s closing statement that “As with any service, we aim to deliver the best service possible, so if you have any feedback please pass it on to your local Housing Officer”, unquote.

You will recall every member of Sanctuary’s Board and the CEO himself have received written feedback from me regulary as far back as 2009 when Sanctuary ripped the residents off big time and wilfully broke the law. Are you therefore suggesting a Housing Officer is in some way more responsible and accountable than the Directors, Executive Officers, Board Members and the CEO himself ?

I know you would want to take a personal interest in any feedback resulting from the “Voice” and know you will not mind me giving out your email address so residents who do contact their Housing Officer with praise or a complaint can also copy you at Simon.Clark@sanctuary-housing.co.uk

Yours sincerely

Geoff McLaughlin

MINUTE BLOG.

Blog entered 18 May 2014

              DEVON & CORNWALL CONSTABULARY

What do you call a Sargeant who did things he should not have done ?

You call him Crooked.

What do you call 2 Officers who also did things they should not have done ?

You call them Corrupt.

What do you call 2 Sargeants and 2 Officers who did things they should not have done ?

You call it a Conspiracy to Pervert the Course of Justice.

(But not according to D&CC and the IPCC)

MINUTE BLOG.

Blog entered 17 May 2014

            A Housing Rhyme

Little Jon Warner,

Sat in a Corner,

Eating some Humble Pie,

He put in his Thumb,

And pulled out a Bum,

And said you are much more deserving than someone with Mental illness !

TROPHY WINNER, SANCTUARY HOUSING. 12/05/14.

Picture shows one of the hedgerows being trimmed during an earlier visit to Timber Close.

       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trophy Winner for Monday 12 May 2014 goes to the Sanctuary Housing’s ‘Estates Team’ who attend Timber Close weekly for 2 hours every Tuesday, according to Helen Harding, Sanctuary Housing Operations Manager – South West, Exeter.

Pictured is the ‘Estates Team’, that’s right all one of him, which Sanctuary charges in excess of £140.00 for attending for 2 hours every Tuesday, or in excess of £560.00 for attending 8 hours a month, or in excess of £6,720.00 for attending less than 100 hours a year.

Sanctuary’s “Grounds Maintenance Specification” is a document which sets out what tasks should be done every week, every fortnight and every month etc., and is Sanctuary’s part of the deal so to speak.

The 2013 – 2014 “Grounds Maintenance Specification” indicates 5 x weekly tasks, 1 x fortnightly task, 3 x monthly tasks, 1 x quarterly task, 2 x 6 monthly tasks and 3 x yearly tasks.

The ‘Sanctuary Housing Idiot Trophy’, S.H.I.T. for short, is awarded today only for ‘Hedges and Bushes’, a task which should be done every month. This because the gardner did the hedges and bushes last Tuesday 6 May 2014.

According to the Specification the “Performance Standard” for ‘Hedges and Bushes’ is as follows : “To be carried out in accordance with standard horticultural practice for bush/hedge type, to remove dead/diseased/excess plant matter and branches/foliage overhanging in a manner which interferes with the use of the footpath/highway/roads/paths/car parks etc. Remove all trimmings from site”, unquote.

So what did the residents get for their weekly Service Charge ?

Hedges and bushes were trimmed and the trimmings were then blown underneath the hedges and bushes with the aid of a petrol driven blower, hardly “standard hoticultural practice”. This then prevented the weekly tasks of removing all leaves from the grass, and all areas to be left clear of rubbish, litter, leaves, etc. and all trimmings to be removed from site.

Because some hedges have never been trimmed adequately enough to prevent them interfering with some Rotary Driers, the “Grounds Maintenance Specification” has remained a fraud in the way it has continually and wilfully failed to maintain and provide the Services the residents have been paying for every week since 2009.

With further regard to the Rotary Driers this has been further compounded with the introduction last year of “Bennetts Folly”, a white elephant of a construction which has meant 2 Rotary Driers are no longer fit for purpose despite the residents still having to pay for them every week.

This somewhat trimmed, blown away and two green fingered fraud is therefore awarded to Sanctuary’s ‘Estates Team’, Helen Harding, Richard Keeley, Simon Clark, the Board Directors and the CEO David Bennett for proving if you are big enough and corrupt enough you can get away with anything. (Moreso if Cornwall Council has anything to do with it).

Footnote : For those of you who think this is a trivial issue I would ask you to consider the following.

A Cornish gardening firm would charge in the region of £10.00 per hour per man saving in excess of £120.00 a week from just over 50 properties. Sanctuary owns some 95,000 properties with a proportion of those residents most likely paying excessive Service Charges for what they get. A high proportion of these residents will be in receipt of benefits with their Rents and excessive Service Charges being met by local Authorities. This amounts to Profiteering on a Grand Scale Nationally.