A COUNCILLOR who fought against charging elderly falls victims to be picked up has been cleared of breaching the councillors’ code of conduct.

Harwich councillor Ivan Henderson faced a standards investigation after a complaint was made against him by Tendring Council cabinet member Paul Honeywood.

The council’s administration had proposed pensioners who needed to be helped back to their feet would be charged an extra £25 per year – on top of the council’s monthly £21.60 charge for its Careline scheme.

Mr Henderson fought against the charge – and publicly repeated an incorrect statement made by council finance boss Tom Howard that it would cost £21 a time to be picked up, when in fact it is a yearly charge.

The proposal sparked anger across the country and a petition against the lifting charge was signed by more than 80,000 people.

Mr Honeywood made an official complaint that Mr Henderson had breached the code of conduct by retweeting inaccurate information about the planned lifting charge, despite Mr Howard’s mistake being corrected by a council press release.

Mr Henderson, who is leader of the council’s Labour group, said he was pleased with the outcome of the investigation.

“I was just doing my job as opposition councillor by holding the cabinet to account,” he said.

“I attend the cabinet as an opposition councillor to scrutinise the administration’s policies – and that is right and proper.

“No obstacles should be put in the way to prevent freedom of speech or expression in a democracy.

“I’m really pleased that the council agreed with me about the lifting charge and agreed to my amendment to the budget which meant elderly people now won’t have to pay extra.”

A report about the conduct investigation went before the council’s standards committee on Monday.

It said: “A finding that he failed to comply with the members’ code would be a disproportionate restriction on his freedom of expression and, therefore, it was recommended that Mr Henderson is found not to have breached the code.

“There were concerns that some of Mr Henderson’s posts on Twitter demonstrated a lack of good judgement on his part.”

As a result of the investigation, it is recommended that guidance be made available to all councillors on the appropriate use of social media.

The ‘lifting charge’ plan was dropped in February after Mr Henderson put forward a successful amendment to the council’s budget.