‘Camden are stealing money from some of their residents’

• CAMDEN just don’t get it, do they, (Camden insists on photo ID to get your £400, August 11)?

Their statement talks about their duty to “protect public funds”. They forget that their role is as a conduit for money from the government to which many in Camden are entitled. The energy discount money is rightfully ours, not Camden’s.

By deciding, unnecessarily, to set up hoops for people to jump through whether they can or not, Camden are stealing money from some of their residents and, no doubt, many of their most vulnerable residents at that.

Camden’s claim that they have “made every attempt to get payments to residents proactively” is simply a lie.

After I received a letter setting out conditions I had to fulfil to get my money – conditions Camden had no reason to assume I could meet – I heard nothing for months, though they would have known that my money hadn’t been collected.

I was the one who was proactive, heading off to the council offices to persuade them to hand over my own money to me. No doubt many people who haven’t had their money haven’t been in a position to do that.

I challenge Camden to say how many of the vouchers haven’t been cashed yet, and what they plan to do to ensure that every last one of them is.

If they could waive the photo ID requirement for me when I made a fuss, they can do it (proactively) for everyone else still waiting to be paid.

ALBERT BEALE
Little Russell Street, WC1