A top councillor had to be reminded to pay her bills during her entire term on Kirklees Council’s senior team.

The full scale of Clr Jean Calvert’s council tax woes has been revealed for the first time.

Clr Calvert was exposed by the Examiner as the worst offender in the ‘Ratesgate’ scandal a few months ago.

Now new information shows she was warned about failing to pay her bills on time in every single civic year that she was a member of the council’s cabinet – a group of senior councillors who make the big decisions about the borough.

Clr Calvert was promoted to the cabinet in May 2011 and remained a member until May 2016.

Between 2010/11 and 2015/16 she received a total of eight reminder letters and five court summons for non-payment of council tax.

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Labour group leader and leader of Kirklees Council, Clr David Sheard, said he was disappointed to see the scale of the problem was worse than first thought.

“I didn’t know about it at the time,” he said.

“I thought when she had the court case she understood she had to pay.”

Clr Calvert, who served as Mayor of Kirklees in 2007/08 and deputy leader for part of 2014/15 and all of 2015/16, was put under the spotlight in early 2014 when she was taken to court for potentially breaching laws surrounding councillors voting on financial matters while being in arrears on her own account in 2013.

But at Bradford Magistrates Court she was found not guilty of two counts of breaking Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 after her defence that she did not know of the law was accepted by a judge.

At last month’s full council meeting, Clr Calvert left the room during a key financial vote, indicating she may have been in arrears over the past two months.

Clr Calvert, who was paid £31,432 for her role in 2015/16, was suspended by the Labour party on June 8 pending an investigation by the National Executive Committee (NEC).

Clr Jean Calvert

But the council is unable to prevent her from continuing her duties as a councillor.

The suspension came after Clr Calvert denied she had been issued summonses and demanded the Examiner apologised to her.

A party spokesman has confirmed she is still suspended.

Clr Sheard, who sacked Clr Calvert as his deputy in May to prevent her becoming leader in his absence, said he did not want to interfere with the NEC action and could not speculate what should happen to her.

But he said he was surprised she had not issued an apology for her actions, as some of the other councillors who were caught out had done.

He added: “She will have to explain herself to the party, whoever is doing the investigation.”

Clr Sheard confirmed he had told all Labour members to pay up when the scandal had first been revealed, a few weeks before the May local elections.

A response to a Freedom of Information request by the Examiner shows the full extent of Clr Calvert’s rule breaking between March 2008 and April 2016.

In January 2009 she had to be reminded she owed £200.

A chart showing the council tax owed by 14 Kirklees Council councillors

In 2010 she was sent a reminder in August and then a summons for £651 of unpaid council tax the following month.

In June 2011, just a month after she was promoted to a cabinet role, she was sent a summons for £934.31 after a reminder the previous month was ignored.

In September 2012 a summons for the same amount was issued after a reminder was ignored.

In 2013 she was issued with two reminder letters.

In July 2014 a summons for £843.76 landed on her doormat after reminders in May and June were ignored.

And as recently as April this year a summons for £94 was issued following a reminder letter sent in February.

Kirklees Council has admitted two reminders and a summons sent in 2015 were mistakes.

The Ratesgate scandal became clear in May and June the Examiner was able to reveal six councillors had been sent court summons for non-payment of council tax between 2014/15 and 2015/16.

Four were Labour members, one Conservative and one has not been identified as they are no longer a councillor.

Along with Clr Calvert, the culprits were Clr Amanda Pinnock who is also suspended by the Labour party after accusing the Examiner of being racist, Clr Mohammed Sarwar, Clr Amanda Stubley and Clr Donna Bellamy.

A further eight councillors received reminder letters after failing to pay on time.

The Kirklees councillors who failed to pay their council tax, clockwise from right: Amanda Pinnock, Amanda Stubley, Mohammed Sarwar, Jean Calvert and Donna Bellamy
The Kirklees councillors who failed to pay their council tax, clockwise from right: Amanda Pinnock, Amanda Stubley, Mohammed Sarwar, Jean Calvert and Donna Bellamy

Clr David Hall, leader of Kirklees Council's Conservative group, said: "It's a shocking record.

"The people that have placed us in a position of responsibility and trust expect us to do our bit.

"In this case it's certainly not a case of us all in it together."

Clr Hall said the Labour party should investigate if there had been any other incidents of Clr Calvert voting on council matters when she was in breach of the legislation on council tax arrears.

And he called on the NEC to speed up its investigation.

Clr Calvert, member for Ashbrow since 1992, has so far not responded to a request for a comment.