Security fears over bank details of elderly held by city council
FEARS have been raised over the safety of thousands of elderly people’s bank details held by Glasgow City Council.
A report has revealed how names and bank details of Glasgow residents, aged 80 and over, who received the £100 additional warmth dividend (AWD), were not reviewed by an independent officer to ensure ‘erroneous or fraudulent’ payments were not made.
The findings follow an internal audit into the dividend, which has been paid to around 12,600 residents this financial year. Details are kept on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, which is not protected by a password.
The report did insist that no fraudulent payments had been discovered.
SNP councillor Richard Bell said: “It just seems to be quite astonishing that a series of bank account details are kept on an Excel spreadsheet.
“I’d have thought in any financial organisation that would be a very strict no, no from day one.
“My concern would be are we confident that we’re not holding this type of information in other council departments.”
He said it was a “fairly straightforward process” to “just simply change the bank account details to your own”.
Bailie Norman MacLeod added: “If our systems were not sufficiently secure that a bad person got in and could find ‘Mrs Smith’ and her bank details and rob her, then that’s enormously concerning.”
Duncan Black, the council’s head of audit and inspection, penned the report on the audit, which was carried out to ensure payments were “appropriate, authorised, recorded and paid correctly to eligible residents”.
It said: “We are pleased to report that the key controls are in place and generally operating effectively.”
However, the report admitted there was “some scope for improvement” and highlighted recommendations which need to be addressed.