There is something disturbing to me about CEC’s threat to drag pensioners and the disabled into court over unpaid care bills while overspending on town hall refurbishments and handing an ex gratia payment to an absent chief executive.

There seems to be a culture within CEC that justifies internal profligacy while demanding tough justice for others. If those ‘others’ happen to be the sick, elderly and disabled then so be it.

How did we get here? When did those we pay to represent us decide their needs were greater than ours? Why do it? Why pursue the most vulnerable through the courts for a few hundred pounds while apparently incompetent council officers waste hundreds of thousands? Answer: because it’s EASIER.

Censuring colleagues would be a difficult task on both professional and personal levels.

Removing them from office would create a firestorm. Far easier to target those unable to fight back.

I believe this culture is so embedded that some officers and councillors regard the money they handle as theirs rather than ours.

Why else would they make an ‘ex gratia’ payment of £50k to an officer earning more than £200k while prosecuting others for the cost of care?

How much care would £50k provide for dementia sufferer or victims of cerebral palsy?

This generous gesture was not done on our behalf, it was done on theirs and each cheque they hand out sets a precedent for the future.

CEC say the move (to prosecute care debtors) is necessary as the council is facing a £21m budget deficit over the next two years – a deficit that existed during the ‘Lyme Green fiasco’ and the ‘Town Hall Overspend’.

Neither do I recall any talk of budget deficits when dozens of new expensive, ergonomic office chairs arrived at Macclesfield town hall.

Just how sick do people have to be before their care takes priority over council profligacy?

You may die waiting for an answer.