There is a concern Moray Council has a “systemic problem” following financial regulations.
The comment came from Keith and Cullen councillor Donald Gatt during discussions on issuing disabled parking permits.
An internal audit into the administration of the scheme found no bills were sent out for 1,200 blue badges applied for in 2020 and 2021.
And that resulted in a £24,000 budget shortfall.
‘Absolutely bonkers’
At a meeting of the audit and scrutiny committee on Wednesday, Mr Gatt said: “I’m concerned that financial regulations have been breached here.
“It does say there were extraordinary challenges because of the pandemic.
“But for the council to function the council has to keep its income going.
“And just because we’re in a difficult time doesn’t necessarily mean you throw the rulebook out.”
He drew attention to another issue where two temporary cabins were bought for £235,000.
The units were procured – without proper authority – to house nursery children from Aberlour Primary while that building was being refurbished.
But the cabins were never used for that purpose and the council is now trying to sell them.
Mr Gatt said: “Being this is another incident after the portacabin incident where financial regulations were not followed, I’m a bit concerned about whether we have a systemic problem.”
He also raised worries at the length of time it has taken for the disabled parking policy to be reviewed.
Mr Gatt said: “The blue badge scheme was last updated in 2013.
Financial regulation breach
“That seems like an excessive length of time to review a policy. We do seem to have a problem keeping our policies up to date.
“And there’s obviously a risk there, particularly regards legislation.”
Audit and risk manager Dafydd Lewis told the meeting his team will look into the invoicing system and a review will come to a future meeting.
He said: “It is a point of concern, especially the duration of it.
“There’s a need now to go through these applications, and raise invoices against these applications in order to ensure we’re maximising our income recovery.
“But it’s not ideal.”
There were also calls for the £20 payment for blue badges to be made when people apply for them.
Elgin South councillor Peter Bloomfield said it was “absolutely bonkers” people were unable to pay for their permits online.
On top of the unissued bills, it was discovered some invoices were not sent out for several months after badges were delivered.
‘It’s not ideal’
The internal audit also found clients’ sensitive personal data was not held securely.
Work is under way to identify those who applied for their blue badges but were not billed.
But that is not expected to be completed until the end of January.
In the financial year 2022/23 Moray Council issued around 1,700 disabled parking permits, bringing in about £29,000.
Local authorities are responsible for administration and enforcement of the scheme.
However, the framework is set by Transport Scotland.
Recommendation include making sure invoices are sent out on time, and consideration is given for blue badge fees to be paid on application.
There is also a call for a full review of the scheme, which has not been done for 10 years.
And that should include reference to who is responsible for investigating claims of misuse.
Management has agreed to all the recommendations and work is ongoing to improve procedures.
Conversation