In message , Palindrome
writes
>Mike_B wrote:
>> In message ,
>>Palindrome writes
>>> Lord Turkey Cough wrote:
>>>> "Palindrome" wrote in message
>>>>news:a6gGj.53617$ic2.48045@fe09.news.easynews.com...
>>>>> Lord Turkey Cough wrote:
>>>>>> Most of them I would say.
>>>>> I suspect that few are stupid enough to do anything provably unlawful.
>>>>>
>>>>> They are simply taking full advantage of generous measures that
>>>>>would never be allowed to anyone else - especially civil servants.
>>>> Well as they set up these measures it means they are all on the
>>>>fiddle,
>>>> or at least the majority.
>>>
>>> IIUC, most of the "nice little earners" were introduced before the
>>>current lot got elected.
>>>
>>> You probably think that I am on the fiddle too, then - one company I
>>>do work for gives me over twice the daily expense rate of the others.
>>>don't hand the extra back and tell them I don't need that much.
>>>
>>>
>> Me too I'm afraid. I claim my full mileage allowance even though my
>>car doesn't cost me that much per mile to actually drive.
>>
>I was hauled in by one to explain why my claims for travel to an office
>varied so much. I explained that, if I was already near the office, for
>one reason or another, I didn't claim for the whole trip. I was told
>that their system couldn't cope with that and to claim for the whole
>trip, each time. Which then left me trying to explain to another local
>government department why my claims varied so much.. The answer
>suggested? Claim for the whole trip, each time, from each office..
>
>Which was quite possibly fraud, as each claim form had something about
>"actual expenses".
>
>I decided to keep records of all the short trips and claim for a whole
>trip when they added up to one. I'm not sure if it would have been a
>defence..Luckily I wasn't asked to publish my expenses..
>
>However, I can have some sympathy for MPs who may have had to resort to
>such tactics in order that "the system could cope".
>
I can have some sympathy for them anyway. If the rules where I work said
I could claim £12000 to have a new kitchen fitted, of course I would
claim it. I'd be bloody stupid not to.
The issue shouldn't be about whether MPs have claimed the expenses they
are allowed to claim, but instead to look at why they are allowed to
claim them, whether it is reasonable and who sets the rules.
--
Mike_B |