Staff expenses audit at Donegal council reveals 92 of 120 claims were inaccurate

STAFF at one county council claimed mileage for making repeated journeys to the same location on the very same day and made claims based on inaccurate distances, new documents reveal.

Council employees also declared starting or destination locations that wrongly bumped up their expense payments.

An internal audit of travel and subsistence claims at Donegal County Council found just 28 of 120 claims had been completed fully and accurately.

Under Revenue rules, civil servants are supposed to declare the shortest route for their journey using either their home address or workplace, whichever of them is closest to where they are going.

However, the audit found that in at least 27 cases from the 120 claims examined, staff members had declared the longer distance for mileage purposes.

In other cases, staff were found to be making multiple trips to the same location on the same day.

Staff made bulk claims spanning several years

Employees also claimed subsistence payments for journeys close by their office or that were on their way to and from the office.

In one case, a staff member photocopied the exact same set of journeys for their expense claims and submitted it each month.

‘This does not constitute “vouched expenses” in Internal Audit’s opinion,’ the report found.

On 19 claim forms, ‘inconsistent’ distances had been declared for journeys undertaken when compared with AA route planners or Google Maps.

Staff also made bulk claims for expenses, sometimes spanning several years. In one case, an employee submitted three years’ worth of claims altogether totalling €6,361.

The internal audit also highlighted what it described as a ‘vast array’ of costs being claimed under the category of ‘other expenses’.

In one case, an employee had been reimbursed for these ‘other expenses’ even though the relevant receipts had not been submitted.

The audit found a plethora of other issues with 39 of the claims having insufficient information for the internal auditors to accurately check the expense claims.

It also highlighted issues where staff were based at a county council

office far from their actual work and where it would have made more sense to be based elsewhere.

The audit said: ‘In some instances, staff are making repeated journeys to the same location(s) where another DCC [Donegal County Council] office is closer than their current actual base.’

In a statement, Donegal County Council said the internal audit was used to improve systems of governance in the organisation.

They said management had responded to all recommendations in the audits. On the expenses audit, they acknowledged the council’s internal system was in need of a ‘thorough review’, and said that staff had been reminded of obligations to make accurate claims.

A spokeswoman added: ‘Donegal County Council is committed to transparency. With that in mind, the council intends to publish all future Internal Audit reports as a matter of course on its website.’