Are WBDC finances in such a poor shape that they have had to claim rates paid by SO/DD before the first of the month?

Appears to have been an error. However Dave Rendel is blaming the Tories - its all their fault. Bet some 'erbert in accounts is mighty relieved at that!!!

So do you recon WBDC will accept a claim for any overdraft interest charges?

It's not the Tories fault on this occasion, but the officers who run that part of the council. But don't worry, nobody will be punished or held to account. There should be an independent review to prevent it happening again, but we will get a report drawn up by the officer who was responsible for the mistake and it will probably be down to BT or whoever wrote the computer programme they use...

Or it could be just a low paid, poorly trained, demoralised, public servant, who was distracted by the worry of how they will afford the new pension policy.

Quite.

They won't have to - the Direct Debit scheme is covered by a guarantee scheme precisely to cover such errors. Your bank will refund any charges.

There seems to be some confusion over DD schemes here. It works like this - WBC request the money, on the due date, and the bank gives it to them. If you were charged for being overdrawn and went into your bank, they would tell you to contact the originator ie WBC. The DD guarantee covers bank errors - and this is not a bank error, its some poor so-and-so in WBC who made a mistake.

If the WBC error caused you to go overdrawn, then WBC must cough up, but will of course require proof that you were charged in the first place. (Your bank can provide you with a letter - probably cost you though!)

I must say I am surprised at the dramatic coverage of the situation. Politicians blaming each other etc all quite pathetic really. The bottom line is some poor soul made a clerical error, god knows we have all done it at some stage in our lives and been in the SH1T - it's only the depth that varies

I agree with Sydney, it would only be a bad reflection on WBC if they tried to cover it up, or lied about it. They have come clean straight away; and so long as they cover the costs incurred to the people affected I don't think it's worth going on about. Unless it ends up costing millions.

I wider point is that it is out of order that a Direct Debit instruction can easily be broken without authorisation. For me, this is more about the fallibility of the bank and the Direct Debit system than WBC finance department.

You are wrong. The Direct Debit Guarantee is in place to cover any payment made by the bank or originator in error. The bank is simply acting as an agent and is unaware of the arrangement made between the account holder and the originator. If a payment is made in error, the account holder is entitled to instruct the bank to return the payment. Error means money taken on the wrong day or an incorrect amount taken.
The error is from WBC stating the date the money should be taken and the day it was taken.

Agreed. The direct debit scheme has a number of flaws, the prime one being that the bank takes authorisation from the originator and not directly from the account holder. The bank assumes that the originator has got authority.

Luckily, I decided some years ago not to let WBC anywhere near my account with a DD. I pay electronically and I have control over when the money leaves my account.

For me, a Standing Order is a more sensible method of payment for fixed amount payments.

Do you get a Direct Debit discount with a Standing Order?

Do you get a direct debit discount from WBC at all?

No, were were talking about generally about Direct Debits and Standing Orders.

The direct debit guarantee isn't worth the paper it's written on ! If you go into your bank they will send you back to the originator every time. The bank considers to originator to be in control, and will pass the buck accordingly. I have in the past, cancelled a direct debit, and the originator has re-instated it ! Plus of course, if you read the small print, a lot of DD's say "on, or around, such and such a date".

Andy is totally right - the only way to be in complete control is with a standing order - because you call the shots.

Sidney, the Lib Dems are the only party throwing mud at the Tories (misguided as always). This is a non political mistake, and I have personally been calling for action against whoever is responsible. There is no accountability at WBC, so if I was the person responsible I wouldn't worry too much.

What sort of action are you suggesting Richard?

You seem all too ready to call for punishment when someone else makes a mistake, but seem to have dodged any action against yourself for your many and varied mistakes.

Once again, the Labour Party isn't sticking up for Public Sector workers, instead in this case putting the boot in for their own gain. One minute they're talking about protecting jobs, the next it seems they're threatening jobs when it gets their name in the paper.

I think that's about right. Since it was set up, neither local lead party has got to grips with the management of WBC and so we go stumbling on.

Richard, I was referring to our Mr Rendel ! However, if you call for action against whoever is responsible this will be a further waste of tax payers money !

The bottom line is someone has made a bad clerical error - it's not the end of the world.

It didn't chew the town centre up with traffic, or result in green space being built on, or result in a controversial building now did it ??!!

Someone "cocked-up" and has had a seriously bad day at the office ! I think we can rest assured they won't do it again in a hurry ! And do you know what ?....... ever had one of those days when you have to ask the mrs what day it is ??

Ummm - yes, perhaps, if WBC were a small back street operation with just two or three hundred customers. Strictly in non political terms, looking at this as a management / process issue this suggests there is a very serious problem. What with other reported issues that have cropped up in the recent past, suggests there is little or no management control. The boot, so to speak, should be affixed very firmly to the rear end of the CEO.

We all know the only possible boot on the rear end will be the person who messed up

Not if you bank with Natwest or RBS. With them you can't cancel a direct debit within three days of the payment. This guarantees that if you know, for whatever reason, that you won't be able to honour the payment within this time, you will be hit with hefty charges.

Seems the best way to go is with cash or with online payments

Sidney, if this was a one off error from the council, I may be inclined to agree with you. The fact is that WBC lurches from one crisis to another, and yet nobody has ever been held to account.

User23, you talk absoulte rubbish sometimes. Maybe you should think about the hudreds of your colleagues being laid of by this council, rather than taking bullets for the highly paid few at the top. The fact that the senior officers are allowed to go unpunished for embarrassing errors and mistakes is a disgrace. The fact the council is being run so badly means hudreds more low paid staff will likely lose their jobs in the next twelve months, and no doubt you will be defending the decisions based on you percieved closeness to those responsible.

Yes the Sh1t always travels upwards and never seems to reach those at the top of the pile does it?

If WBC was a normal company they would have gone out of business years ago with all the gaffs they have and continue to make!

Do you think that this mistake might have been caused by a highly paid senior officer or a low paid member of staff who has perhaps seen his colleagues around him in the back office made redundant?

I've no idea myself but before you dismiss what I say as rubbish and put the boot in to Public Sector workers (as you have time, after time) perhaps you should do this research? The fact that you could be threatening someone's livelihood for a few column inches demonstrates just how little actually think of the low paid. This is even more galling given your level of incompetence and the huge number of gaffes you've made over the past year or so, destroying Labour's best chance to get seats on the Council in decades.

As I say, truth is whether it's New Labour or Newbury Labour they don't care about Public Sector when it suits them not it.

We all know human error creeps in sometimes, fact of life. Surely an important mistake of this nature should be internally investigated to prevent these kind of mistakes happening again. I do not want to necessarily see anyone lose their job over this but it would seem to me to make sense to look into the whole Management structure at WBC. Not a week goes by without some major gaff or fiasco being made public, I would be interested to know how many are made that does not reach the taxpayers attention, if any other organisation were making the same number of mistakes on this scale action would be taken to rectify the Management system or lack of.

I'm not sure about that. A number of private companies get stick for 'accounting' mistakes and when you do complain, it is with someone in India that you can barely communicate with.

Exactly, plus the statement "Not a week goes by without some major gaff or fiasco being made public" is hardly true. What was last week's, or the week's before?

Am I to understand from this statement that the council are now not even keeping records of the gaffs?

The reason the senior officers claim they are paid so much is because they 'take the hit' when anything goes wrong. What other reason is there? So we all know the workers - in whatever sector - simply do the bidding of their bosses. The boss imposes process and procedure because they know we all make mistakes. The only political issue is that so far no one party has yet got to grips with the senior officers they appoint to run the Council. So today, the CEO can have his cake and eat it. Thanks Councillors; its only our money you are wasting!

And this coalition government thinks it is hard work getting rid of Gaddafi? How many planes and missiles will it take to get rid of the CEO of WBC then if this is the way they are operating?