Man handed £59k a week benefits after typing error

A BENEFITS claimant who was supposed to receive £59.95 per week was sent payments of £59,395 after a typing blunder misplaced the decimal point.

By the time the error was spotted by Fife Council, the unnamed person had received five of the payments during July and August, amounting to around £298,000.

The massive overpayment, understood to be linked to health and social care, was discovered during budget monitoring by finance staff.

Most of the money has been recovered but more than £12,000 has yet to be returned to council coffers. The recipient of the cash has now been asked to repay it in instalments.

North East Fife Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said the blunder was ‘concerning’ and called for an assurance that everything possible was being done to prevent it happening again.

Mr Rennie added: ‘Although everyone can make a mistake, this is a hefty one.

‘The majority of the funds have been recovered but it is concerning that it took so long for the system to pick up this error.

‘We need a full explanation from the chief executive of the council with details of why this was not identified earlier and what will be done to make sure the system is more robust in future.’

According to documentation, the error was discovered on August 29, three days after the final £59,395 payment was issued and an investigation was launched by the local authority.

The recurring transfers were one of two set up to the recipient due to a change in circumstances.

However, a member of the accounts team keyed one of

‘We need a full explanation’

the figures incorrectly, resulting in an overpayment of almost £297,000.

The council probe found procedures for payments to individuals of more than £5,000 were not checked by a senior staff member for accuracy. A series of recommendations have been made to tighten up the system and prevent a recurrence.

Service manager Jacqueline Armitage said: ‘Unfortunately a keying error resulted in the wrong payment being issued and, as it was set up as an automatically recurring payment, multiple payments were made.

‘The incorrect recurring payment should have been picked up as part of our normal checks. We’ve now put an additional reporting mechanism in place to create a dual-checking system.’

Miss Armitage added: ‘We retrieved the majority of the funds and have agreed a repayment plan for the outstanding amount.’

Police were not involved in the investigation.

Last night, critics hit out at the blunder.

John O’Connell, chief executive at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘This is a disgraceful waste of taxpayers’ money and makes the council look completely incompetent. We all make mistakes at work but this on another level.’

Mr O’Connell added: ‘The council must get a grip, improve its checking procedures and make sure this never happens again.’