TODAY the Examiner reveals details of the councillors who are failing to justify their £11,000 allowances.
A quarter of all councillors on Kirklees Council have NEVER submitted mandatory reports outlining what they have done during the year to justify the money - despite a requirement to do so.
And in total an incredible 50 from the 69 elected members, including council leader Kath Pinnock, have not yet completed their report for the year 2004/05.
They have had more than three months to finish the report which is supposed to briefly outline what they have done during the previous year.
The reports, which are meant to be available to the public, should also be published on the council website.
When councillors are voted in by the public they sign an agreement to carry out a number of tasks. One of these is making public the record of what they have done each year. However if they fail to do this there is no penalty.
The revelations come as the Business Managers' Sub-Committee meets to discuss possible changes to the way councillors get paid.
The allowances bill, just short of £1m a year, is met by the council taxpayer.
It is suggested in a report to the committee that time spent working on council matters should no longer be a consideration.
Labour leader Mehboob Khan, who has not yet submitted his report for this year, said he fully supported the Examiner's naming of councillors who have not filled a report in.
"I am not sure when the deadline for this year's reports to be in is but last year it was around this time," he said.
"It does take time to compile them, proof-read them and make sure they fulfil what is needed.
"I am shocked that some senior councillors have never had a report on the website.
"Those reports are important because they justify councillors' wages and let the public know what they have been doing."
Deputy leader of the Conservatives Ken Sims has never completed a report and has vowed never to do one.
He said: "That is not the way I work.
"I think it means much more to be out there and actually doing things rather than writing a flowery resumé about them.
"I keep a diary of everything I do and anybody can have a look at it whenever they want.
"Just because a councillor fills out a report does not mean they are working hard. Anybody can put anything on those reports and I am sure a fair few do."
The Examiner left messages with Leader of the council Clr Kath Pinnock but she failed to comment on why some councillors had never done a report and why she has still not filed her own for 2004/05.
HERE are the councillors who have filed reports:
Ann Denham (Cabinet member for environment and highways), John Smithson (deputy leader), Linda Wilkinson, Ann Raistrick, Gordon Beever, Margaret Fearnley, Roger Battye, Elaine Ward, Jim Dodds, Christine Iredale, Robert Iredale, Andrew Marchington (Cabinet member for supporting communities), Christine Stanfield, Marie Bower, Michael Bower, Christine Smith, Martyn Bolt.
THESE councillors have not submitted the required report in up to three years:
Hanif Mayet, Dorothy Lindley, Shahida Awan, Peter McBride, Angela Ellam, Imtiaz Ameen, Jonathan Scott, Naz Hussain, David Exley, Tabasum Aslam, Terry Lyons, Kenneth Sims, Adrian Murphy, Tony Brice, Derrick Yates, David Hall, Sharon Elaine Fallows, Mahmood Akhtar, Elizabeth Smaje.
THE following did not file 2004/05 reports:
Ken Smith, Deryck Hillas, Jean Calvert, Mary Harkin, Mahmood Akhtar, Shabir Pandor, Paul Battye (Cabinet member for administration and business), Geoffrey Alvy (cabinet member for children's services), Andrew Palfreeman, Robert Light (Kirk- lees Conservative leader), Elizabeth Smaje, Kath Pinnock (council leader), Andrew Pinnock (Cabinet member for development), Molly Walton, Mohammad Sarwar, Maggie Blanshard, Paul Kane, Dennis Hullock (Cabinet member for health and social services), Eric Firth, Khizar Iqbal, Keith Oldroyd, Mehboob Khan (Labour leader), Annie Smith, Mohan Sokhal, David Sheard, Donald Firth, Nigel Patrick, Mark Hemingway, Tony Woodhead, Margaret Bates, Kathleen Taylor, Beverley Warby, Andrew Cooper (Cabinet member for housing and property), Julie Stewart-Turner.
