Cleaner struggling after parish council refuses to pay her bills for months

A cleaner claims that a parish council owes her thousands of pounds after refusing to pay her for months.

Melanie Wright says will struggle for money at Christmas after her invoices worth over £2000 haven’t been paid.

After The Lincolnite enquired about the payment, Metheringham Parish Council suspended her contract.

The parish council claims there is a hold on the invoices due to some work not being carried out.

However, it hasn’t elaborated on why this has taken months to resolve, and Melanie says this reason was never given to her.

It also says an investigation is being carried out into what has happened, and will be discussed at a future meeting.

Melanie, who runs Buzzing Ladies cleaning service, has cleaned the Metheringham library, pavilion, council offices and public toilets for four years.

But following a change of parish council members in the summer, her invoices stopped being paid.

She says she is now owed £2,384.15, representing work dating back to July.

“I didn’t think anything at first when my invoice for July wasn’t paid, as I knew the clerk had left,” she said.

Metheringham Parish Council haven’t explained why the issue has taken months to resolve | Photo: Google

“But when it kept happening, I raised it repeatedly at meetings, and was always told I would be paid within weeks.

“I have worked for Metheringham Parish Council for four years, and have never had any problems with before.

“I am due thousands of pounds, and am now being ignored when I ask for an update.

“I have been advised to take them to Small Claims Court but have been told there’s a 12 month delay, and I don’t want to wait that long.

“It’s coming up to Christmas and I will have to borrow money because I haven’t been paid what I’m owed.”

The Lincolnite contacted the council about Melanie’s claims. A week later, she was told that her contract was being suspended as a result.

The parish council has not provided any further explanations.

As of December 12, Melanie is still waiting for her outstanding invoices to be paid.

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